*2.2. Pre-Treatment of Corn Cobs*

Milled corn cobs (CC) was treated using hydrothermal pre-treatment or dilute acid pre-treatment. A total of 10 g of biomass was suspended in Milli-Q water (for hydrothermal treatment) or in a 0.5% (*w*/*w*) sulphuric acid solution (for dilute acid treatment) (solid: liquid ratio of 1:10) and autoclaved for 20 min at 121 ◦C. The pre-treated CC slurry was filtered, followed by washing the solids repeatedly with Milli-Q water and then oven drying to constant weight at 50 ◦C for 48 h.
