Authors: Danie Diedericks Eugéne van Rensburg Johann F Görgens
Publish Date: 2012/05/26
Volume: 167, Issue: 7, Pages: 1921-1937
Abstract
Biorefineries processing lignocellulose will produce chemicals and fuels from chemical constituents cellulose hemicelluloses and lignin to replace fossilderived products Fractionation of sugarcane bagasse into three pure streams of chemical constituents was addressed through dissolution of constituents with the ionic liquids 1ethyl3methylimidazolium acetate EMiMCH3COO or 1butyl3methylimidazolium methyl sulfate BMiMMeSO4 Constituents were isolated from the reaction mixture with the antisolvents acetone Ā acetone–water AW and sodium hydroxide NaOH Delignification was enhanced by NaOH although resulting in impure product streams Xylose preextraction 75 w/w by dilute acid pretreatment prior to ionic liquid treatment improved lignin purity after antisolvent separation Fractionation efficiency of the combined process was maximized 84 by ionic liquid treatment at 125 °C for 120 min resulting in 802 w/w lignin removal and 765 w/w lignin recovery Ionic liquids achieved similar degrees of delignification although fully digestible celluloserich solids were produced only by EMiMCH3COO treatment
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