A microwave-assisted acid pretreatment (MAP) strategy has been developed to enhance hydrogen production via thermophilic fermentation of corn stover. Pretreatment of corn stover by combining microwave irradiation and acidification resulted in the increased release of soluble substances and made the corn stover more accessible to microorganisms when compared to thermal acid pretreatment (TAP). MAP showed obvious advantages in short duration and high efficiency of lignocellulosic hydrolysis. Analysis of the particle size and specific surface area of corn stover as well as observation of its cellular microstructure were used to elucidate the enhancement mechanism of the hydrolysis process by microwave assistance. The cumulative hydrogen volume reached 182.2 ml when corn stover was pretreated by MAP with 0.3 N H(2)SO(4) for 45 mm, and the corresponding hydrogen yield reached 1.53 mol H(2)/mol-glucose equivalents converted to organic end products. The present work demonstrates that MAP has potential to enhance the bioconversion efficiency of lignocellulosic waste to renewable biofuel. (C) 2010 Professor T. Nejat Veziroglu. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.