Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Degradation of Untreated Switchgrass Biomass into Reducing Sugars in 1-(Alkylsulfonic)-3-Methylimidazolium Brönsted Acidic Ionic Liquid Medium Under Mild Conditions

  • Published:
BioEnergy Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Switchgrass biomass samples collected at three different stages of maturity were seen degrading into reducing sugars and glucose when exposed to 1-(alkylsulfonic)-3-methylimidazolium Brönsted acidic ionic liquids under thermal and microwave conditions. The highest reducing sugar (58.1 ± 2.1 %) and glucose (15.3 ± 0.5 %) yields were obtained for switchgrass samples dissolved in 1-(butylsulfonic)-3-methylimidazolium chloride ionic liquid by heating at 70 °C for 1 h followed by treatment with 0.22 g water/g switchgrass and then heating at 70 °C for 1 h for the hydrolysis of polysaccharides. The samples treated under microwave conditions produced relatively lower yields of reducing sugar (22.0 ± 1.5–37.2 ± 1.8 %) and glucose (8.0 ± 0.2–12.8 ± 0.4 %) yields, compared to heat-treated samples.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Viikari LJ, Vehmaanpera J, Koivula A (2012) Lignocellulosic ethanol: from science to industry. Biomass Bioenergy 46:13–24

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Goettemoeller J, Goettemoeller A (2007) Sustainable ethanol: biofuels, biorefineries, cellulosic biomass, flex-fuel vehicles, and sustainable farming for energy independence. Prairie Oak, Maryville

    Google Scholar 

  3. He J, Zhang W (2008) Research on ethanol synthesis from syngas. J Zhejiang Univ- Sc A 9:714–719

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Henstra AM, Sipma J, Rinzema A, Stams AJM (2007) Microbiology of synthesis gas fermentation for biofuel production. Curr Opin Biotec 18:200–6

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Sukumaran RK, Singhania RR, Mathew GM, Pandey A (2009) Cellulase production using biomass feed stock and its application in lignocellulose saccharification for bio- ethanol production. Renew Energ 34:421–424

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Wright L, Turhollow A (2010) Switchgrass selection as a “model” bioenergy crop: a history of the process. Biomass Bioenergy 34:851–868

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Keshwani DR, Cheng JJ (2009) Switchgrass for bioethanol and other value-added applications. Biores Technol 100:1515–1523

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Singh S, Simmons BA, Vogel KP (2009) Visualization of biomass solubilization and cellulose regeneration during ionic liquid pretreatment of switchgrass. Biotechnol Bioeng 104:68–75

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Dien BS, Jung H-JG, Vogel KP, Caslerd MD, Lamb JFS, Itena L, Mitchell RB, Sarath G (2006) Chemical composition and response to dilute-acid pretreatment and enzymatic saccharification of alfalfa, reed canarygrass, and switchgrass. Biomass Bioenergy 30:880–891

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Zhao H, Baker GA, Cowins JV (2010) Fast enzymatic saccharification of switchgrass after pretreatment with ionic liquids. Biotechnol Progress 26:127–133

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Li C, Knierim B, Manisseri C, Arora R, Scheller HV, Auer M, Vogel KP, Simmons BA, Singh S (2010) Comparison of dilute acid and ionic liquid pretreatment of switchgrass: biomass recalcitrance, delignification and enzymatic saccharification. Biores Technol 101:4900–4906

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Samayam IP, Schall CA (2010) Saccharification of ionic liquid pretreated biomass with commercial enzyme mixtures. Biores Technol 101:3561–3566

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Arora R, Manisseri C, Li C, Ong MD, Scheller HV, Vogel KP, Simmons BA, Sing S (2010) Monitoring and analyzing process streams towards understanding ionic liquid pretreatment of switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.). Bioenerg Res 3:134–135

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Nlewem KC, Thrash ME Jr (2010) Comparison of different pretreatment methods based on residual lignin effect on the enzymatic hydrolysis of switchgrass. Biores Technol 101:5426–5430

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Li C, Sun L, Simmons BA, Singh S (2012) Comparing the recalcitrance of eucalyptus, pine, and switchgrass using ionic liquid and dilute acid pretreatments. Bioenerg Res, DOI 10.1007/s12155-012-9220-4

  16. Amarasekara AS, Owereh OS (2009) Hydrolysis and decomposition of cellulose in Brönsted acidic ionic liquids under mild conditions. Ind Eng Chem Res 48:10152–10155

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Gui J, Cong X, Liu D, Zhang X, Hu Z, Sun Z (2004) Novel Brönsted acidic ionic liquid as efficient and reusable catalyst for esterification. Catal Commun 5:473–477

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Swatloski RP, Spear SK, Holbery JD, Rogers RD (2002) Dissolution of cellulose with ionic liquids. J Am Chem Soc 124:4974–4975

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Breuil C, Saddler JN (1985) Comparison of the 3,5-dinitrosalicylic acid and Nelson- Somogyi methods of assaying for reducing sugars and determining cellulase activity. Enzym Microb Tech 7:327–332

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Li C, Zhao ZK (2007) Efficient acid-catalyzed hydrolysis of cellulose in ionic liquid. Adv Synth Catal 349:1847–1850

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Bergmeyer HU, Bernt E (1974) Glucose analysis. In: Bergmeyer HU (ed) Methods of enzymatic analysis. Academic, New York, pp 1205–1212

    Google Scholar 

  22. Kilpeläinen I, Xie H, King A, Granstrom M, Heikkinen S, Argyropoulos DS (2007) Dissolution of wood in ionic liquids. J Agric Food Chem 55:9142–9148

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Zavrel M, Bross D, Funke M, Büchs J, Spiess AJ (2009) High-throughput screening for ionic liquids dissolving lingo cellulose. Biores Technol 100:2580–2587

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Allison GG, Thain SC, Morris P, Morris C, Hawkins S, Hauck B, Barraclough T, Yates N, Shield I, Bridgwater AV, Donnison IS (2009) Quantification of hydroxycinnamic acids and lignin in perennial forage and energy grasses by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and partial least squares regression. Biores Technol 100:1252–1261

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Dr. Kenneth P. Vogel of USDA-ARS, University of Nebraska—Lincoln for switchgrass samples. Financial support from Center for Environmentally Beneficial Catalysis, University of Kansas, American Chemical Society PRF grant UR1-49436, NSF grant CBET-0929970, USDA grant, and CBG-2010-38821-21569 is gratefully acknowledged.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Prairie View A&M University, Prairie View, TX, 77446, USA

    Ananda S. Amarasekara & Preethi Shanbhag

Authors
  1. Ananda S. Amarasekara
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Preethi Shanbhag
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ananda S. Amarasekara.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Amarasekara, A.S., Shanbhag, P. Degradation of Untreated Switchgrass Biomass into Reducing Sugars in 1-(Alkylsulfonic)-3-Methylimidazolium Brönsted Acidic Ionic Liquid Medium Under Mild Conditions. Bioenerg. Res. 6, 719–724 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12155-012-9291-2

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12155-012-9291-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation