A critical review of lignocellulose degradation technologies: Feedstock-specific strategies, emerging catalysis, and TEA/LCA perspectives

Lignocellulose, the most abundant renewable biomass resource on Earth, is substantially underutilized, with megaton-scale agricultural and forestry residues disposed of through open burning or landfilling, causing severe greenhouse gas emissions, soil degradation, and groundwater pollution. The inherent recalcitrance of lignocellulose—arising from the cross-linked matrix of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin—restricts bioconversion efficiency, while challenges including high pretreatment energy consumption, inhibitor formation, and elevated enzyme costs hinder scalable valorization. This review provides a critical assessment of recent advances in lignocellulose degradation technologies, with a focus on the period 2023–2026. It categorizes lignocellulosic wastes into four distinct types based on their specific recalcitrance profiles and systematically evaluates physicochemical pretreatment, biological and enzymatic degradation, and emerging photocatalytic and electrocatalytic strategies through a “feedstock–technology” matching framework. The application of these technologies in sustainable bioenergy production—cellulosic ethanol, biogas, and biohydrogen—is assessed, and current bottlenecks are analyzed through the integrated lenses of techno-economic analysis and life cycle assessment. By synthesizing advances across synthetic biology, catalytic chemistry, and process engineering, this review provides a comprehensive roadmap for advancing the high-value utilization of lignocellulose within a circular economy framework.