**Author details**

**A**

**B**

**Figure 1.** A possible scheme for incorporating biological pretreatment into biofuels manufacturing. A. Treatment to suppress the growth of endogenous microorganisms to allow establishment of the inoculated fungal culture. A varie‐ ty of treatments could be utilized, including ultraviolet, microwave, or radio frequency treatment. This scheme is based on the successful biopulping inoculation strategy described by Scott et al. [66] B. Overall scheme for biofuels produc‐

We can therefore envision a means by which fungal pretreatment might be incorporated into an overall process for producing energy from biomass by a variety of strategies (Figure 1). Biological pretreatment should be included at the earliest stages in order to take maximum advantage of its beneficial effects. Building on the successful bio-pulping model described by Scott et al. [66], chopped biomass would be briefly decontaminated by microwave or radio frequency heating within a conveyor; the objective of this is not sterilization or complete

tion including biological pretreatment. (B.5. photo courtesy of Jay Grabiec, Eastern Illinois University).

194 Sustainable Degradation of Lignocellulosic Biomass - Techniques, Applications and Commercialization

Thomas Canam1 , Jennifer Town2,3, Kingsley Iroba4 , Lope Tabil4 and Tim Dumonceaux2,3\*


4 Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Saskatchewan, Sas‐ katoon, Canada
