Issue 11, 2010
From the journal:

Green Chemistry

Ionic liquid solvent properties as predictors of lignocellulose pretreatment efficacy†

Thomas V. Doherty,a   Mauricio Mora-Pale,b   Sage E. Foley,c   Robert J. Linhardtbcd  and  Jonathan S. Dordick*bc  

* Corresponding authors

a Department of Materials Science & Engineering, Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 110 8th Street, Troy, New York, USA

b Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering, Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 110 8th Street, Troy, New York, USA
E-mail: dordick@rpi.edu
Fax: +1 (518) 276-2207
Tel: +1 (518) 276-2899

c Department of Biology, Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 110 8th Street, Troy, New York, USA

d Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 110 8th Street, Troy, New York, USA

Abstract

Effective pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass is vital to its bioconversion to a usable liquid fuel. A growing body of work has focused on using room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) to pretreat lignocellulose for subsequent fermentation. However, little is known about the physicochemical parameters of RTILs that promote effective pretreatment. In this work we examine the relationship between the Kamlet–Taft α, β, and π* solvent polarity parameters of different RTILs ([Emim][OAc], [Bmim][OAc], and [Bmim][MeSO4]) and effective pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass. We find the β parameter is an excellent predictor of pretreatment efficacy. Acetate containing RTILs (β > 1.0) remove >32% of lignin from maple wood flour and significantly reduce cellulose crystallinity, resulting in >65% glucose yields after 12 h cellulase hydrolysis. Pretreatment in [Bmim][MeSO4] (β = 0.60) results in the removal of only 19% of the wood flour's lignin with no decrease in crystallinity, and no improvement in sugar yield over untreated wood flour. The addition of water and the dilution of the acetate anion with the methyl sulfate anion decrease the β value and subsequently have a negative impact on lignin extraction, cellulose crystallinity, and sugar yields.

Graphical abstract: Ionic liquid solvent properties as predictors of lignocellulose pretreatment efficacy

About
Cited by
Related
Download options Please wait...

Supplementary files

Article information

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1039/C0GC00206B
Article type
Paper
Submitted
11 Jun 2010
Accepted
15 Sep 2010
First published
11 Oct 2010

Green Chem., 2010,12, 1967-1975

Permissions

Request permissions

Ionic liquid solvent properties as predictors of lignocellulose pretreatment efficacy

T. V. Doherty, M. Mora-Pale, S. E. Foley, R. J. Linhardt and J. S. Dordick, Green Chem., 2010, 12, 1967 DOI: 10.1039/C0GC00206B

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements