The surging climate change resulting from carbon dioxide emissions primarily from the employment of fossil fuels poses a threat to the global economy and civilization. Additionally, fossil fuels are quickly experiencing depletion prompting the need to explore alternative, sustainable energy sources. Lignocellulosic biomass is a renewable energy source whose potential remains underexploited. Harnessing biomass energy faces challenges that limit its economic exploitation through; limited knowledge to enhance its full potential and inefficiencies experienced through the experimental stages that affect full rollout and optimal performance. An efficient valorization of lignin and cellulose components of the biomass to desired energy products remains contingent on effective depolymerization of the biomass through pretreatment intervention. Several studies have focused on pretreatment methods such as chemical, physical, and biological individually while a few are attempting to evaluate the effect of combined methods such as physicochemical which combines physical and chemical action in biomass pretreatment. This study characterizes the lignocellulosic biomass and reviews the existing common physicochemical pretreatment methods for enhanced performance in bioenergy production. The reviews examine the performance of different techniques including; steam explosion, liquid hot water, ammonia fiber explosion, CO2 explosion, soaking in aqueous ammonia, and wet oxidation methods. Further, the reviews focused on highlighting the performance criteria and comparing the derived benefits of each technique.
