Autothermal, single-stage, performic acid pretreatment of Miscanthus x giganteus for the rapid fractionation of its biomass components into a lignin/hemicellulose-rich liquor and a cellulase-digestible pulp

► Autothermal process by catalytic decomposition of formic acid/H2O2 mixtures. ► Eighty-nine percentage hemicellulose removal and >Ninety-four percentage delignification of Miscanthus in 0.5h. ► Intact lignin and hemicellulose sugars are recoverable from the liquor. ► Recovery of >Ninety-five percentage digestible microcrystalline cellulose. ► Cellulase release of glucose was 20-fold faster than for the raw biomass. A novel approach to the performic acid pulping of biomass enables effective delignification and fractionation in a time frame not achieved heretofore. An autothermal decomposition reaction was triggered when 100mg/L Fe2(SO4)3 in 4.0M NaOH was added to 5% or 7.5% H2O2 in aqueous formic acid containing chipped Miscanthus x giganteus. Peroxy-decomposition resulted in pressures of 19 and 35bar in the 5% and 7.5% peroxide liquors and reduced the lignin content in the resulting pulps to 99% and >95% and the rate of glucose release from cellulase digestion of the pulps in 24h was more than 20-fold that for the raw Miscanthus.