Ammonia fiber expansion (AFEX) combined with white-rot fungi pretreatment to improve enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulose

Ammonia fiber expansion (AFEX) combined with white-rot fungi treatment of three lignocellulose to improve enzymatic saccharification. In this study, lignocellulose were treated with only AFEX, only Pleurotus ostreatus ( P. ostreatus ), and combined with the two methods. The degradation rate of lignin and the conversion rate of cellulose were studied. The sentences have been carefully revised in the revised manuscript. The results showed that AFEX combined with P. ostreatus was the most effective treatment for salix wood with 85.27% conversion of cellulose and 70.23% degradation of lignin, followed by pine wood and finally Pennisetum sinese ( P. sinese ). When treated with AFEX, P. ostreatus increased the production of three enzymes (laccase, manganese peroxidase, and lignin peroxidase) and accelerated the degradation of lignin. By Brunel-Emmett-Taylor (BET), the specific surface area of lignocellulose increased threefold after AFEX pretreatment, and elemental analysis (EA) revealed that the elemental nitrogen content of lignocellulose also increased significantly after AFEX pretreatment. Results demonstrate that the combined treatment method can effectively degrade lignin to improve cellulose conversion.