Hydrogen peroxide-acetic acid pretreatment increases the saccharification and enzyme adsorption on lignocellulose

•HPAC pretreatment enhances lignocellulose saccharification up to 20 times.•Lignin was strongly removed from lignocellulosic materials HPAC-pretreated.•Maximum adsorption capacities of HPAC-pretreated substrates were highly improved.•Neither furfural nor 5-hydroxymethylfurfural was accumulated in the liquor. Biomass delignification is a crucial condition for the effective production of fermentable sugars from lignocellulosic materials. Here, an effective method was used to pretreat lignocellulosic materials using hydrogen peroxide-acetic acid (HPAC) solution. The pretreatment of maize straw, sugarcane bagasse and eucalyptus bark with HPAC removed 45 to 75% of lignin and improved from 2.1 to 20.8-fold the saccharification process. Delignification caused by HPAC increased the enzyme adsorption capacities of pretreated substrates from 2.6 to 7.1-fold. The HPAC treatment clearly removes furfurals of the hydrolytic medium, contributing to more efficient ethanol fermentation. The applied method can be a useful alternative to improve biomass saccharification, reduce costs and increase the production of second-generation bioethanol.