Pretreatments of lignocellulosic and algal biomasses for sustainable biohydrogen production: Recent progress, carbon neutrality, and circular economy

[Display omitted] •Lignocellulosic and algal biomasses are sustainable feedstocks for H2 production.•These biomasses need pretreatments to enhance biohydrogen yields.•Analyzed the gap between reality and practicability of existing pretreatments.•Techno-economic feasibility of the pretreatments is comparatively analyzed.•Outlook for pretreatments from perspective of carbon neutrality and circular economy. Lignocellulosic and algal biomasses are known to be vital feedstocks to establish a green hydrogen supply chain toward achieving a carbon–neutral society. However, one of the most pressing issues to be addressed is the low digestibility of these biomasses in biorefinery processes, such as dark fermentation, to produce green hydrogen. To date, various pretreatment approaches, such as physical, chemical, and biological methods, have been examined to enhance feedstock digestibility. However, neither systematic reviews of pretreatment to promote biohydrogen production in dark fermentation nor economic feasibility analyses have been conducted. Thus, this study offers a comprehensive review of current biomass pretreatment methods to promote biohydrogen production in dark fermentation. In addition, this review has provided comparative analyses of the technological and economic feasibility of existing pretreatment techniques and discussed the prospects of the pretreatments from the standpoint of carbon neutrality and circular economy.