Furfural and 5-hydroxymethyl-furfural degradation using recombinant manganese peroxidase.

•Recombinant manganese peroxidase (rMnP), produced in the yeast Pichia pastoris, can degrade furfural and 5-hydroxymethyl-furfural (HMF), which are produced during biomass pretreatment and are inhibitory to yeast fermentations for biofuels production.•Treatment with rMnP or manganese(III) acetate reduced furfural and HMF concentrations in a dose-dependent manner.•Furfural disappearance was accompanied by malonate disappearance and accumulation of four distinct degradation products.•Growth assays using Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a commonly used yeast in biofuels fermentations, indicated that rMnP treatment reduced the toxicity of furfural and HMF.