Biological pretreatment of biomass to decrease energy consumption in mechanical defiberization process

It is critical to develop sustainable, effective, and innovative technologies for society, particularly for processing of biomass, so that the green/ sustainable advantages can be extended to the final products. This review examined two-step biological-mechanical defiberization of lignocellulosic biomass to produce fibers. Two biological pretreatment methods of fungi and enzymes were mainly introduced, with particular focus on the energy consumption. Potential application methods, advantages, disadvantages, process economics, and future prospects of two biological pretreatment methods were considered to derive a complete road map for the proposed process. With the help of biological pretreatment, the mechanical pulping production could not only improve the paper strength, but also decrease energy consumption at about 40%. This process fits well with the green/sustainable strategy to produce lignocellulosic fibers with reasonable quality while having minimal environmental impact.