Acid and hydrothermal pretreatment of lignocellulosic materials results in toxins and inhibitors that impair the performance of process enzymes during fermentation. Biocatalyst preservation technologies involve application of advanced materials with high selectivity and binding capacity to remove these toxins and inhibitors to enable cost-effective production of biofuels/products by biocatalytic routes.

These include:

• Surface-treated nanostructured aggregates
• Environmentally benign adsorbent foams
• Other developing molecular-directed approaches

The economic impact of each approach depends upon the longevity and reusability of materials.