Ionic liquids as an effective medium for enzymatic saccharification of lignocellulosic biomass: A review

The efficient utilization of lignocellulosic biomass for biofuel production represents a significant challenge. As effective solvents, ionic liquids (ILs) have demonstrated considerable potential in laboratory-scale studies for the pretreatment of biomass, thereby enabling successful enzymatic saccharification. However, critical issues should be resolved, for instance, the remaining tolerance or activity of microorganisms or cellulase in the presence of ILs. This review aims to study the impact of ILs on microorganisms and cellulase during ILs-assisted biomass degradation, to investigate the interactions between ILs and microorganisms/enzymes, and to explore the feasible mechanism of ILs on enzymatic activity. This study emphasizes ILs-assisted enzymatic saccharification systems for the successful biomass degradation. Future research will focus on developing composite catalytic systems of ILs and microorganisms/enzymes and also the recycling and reusing of ionic liquids for industrial applications.