Three Way Comparison of Hydrophilic Ionic Liquid, Hydrophobic Ionic Liquid, and Dilute Acid for the Pretreatment of Herbaceous and Woody Biomass
This paper examines the efficacy of ionic liquid (IL) pretreatment on seven different commercially harvested biomass types: corn stover, miscanthus, pine, sorghum, sugarcane bagasse, switchgrass, and wheat straw in an effort to improve the production of renewable fuels and chemicals from biomass der...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2018-07-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Energy Research |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fenrg.2018.00067/full |
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| author | C. Luke Williams Chenlin Li Hongqiang Hu Jared C. Allen Brad J. Thomas |
| author_facet | C. Luke Williams Chenlin Li Hongqiang Hu Jared C. Allen Brad J. Thomas |
| author_sort | C. Luke Williams |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This paper examines the efficacy of ionic liquid (IL) pretreatment on seven different commercially harvested biomass types: corn stover, miscanthus, pine, sorghum, sugarcane bagasse, switchgrass, and wheat straw in an effort to improve the production of renewable fuels and chemicals from biomass derived sugars. Initial experiments screened the pretreatment of lodgepole pine, a particularly recalcitrant biomass feedstock, with nine different imidazolium based ionic liquids. After screening, one hydrophilic and one hydrophobic ionic liquid was selected for pretreatment tests on six commercially harvested biomasses. Ultimately, the hydrophilic ionic liquid functioned better for biomass pretreatment than the hydrophobic ionic liquid. These results were then compared to a traditional dilute acid pretreatment to examine the relative effectiveness of ionic liquid pretreatment across a variety of biomass and ionic liquid types. Total theoretical sugar yields after IL pretreatment varied widely by IL and biomass type and ranged from 4.9 to 90.2%. Dilute acid pretreatment showed consistent sugar yields for herbaceous material (from 71.4 to 80.8%) but low yield for lodgepole pine (22.8%). Overall, ILs showed the potential to reach slightly higher sugar yields than dilute acid and were particularly effective for woody feedstocks. More importantly, the sugar release kinetics for IL pretreatment were three times faster than dilute acid and gave maximum sugar yields after about 24 h. Additional characterization of IL treated materials included scanning electron microscopy (SEM), x-ray diffraction (XRD), and compositional analysis. SEM and XRD showed qualitative and quantitative reductions in cellulose crystallinity (respectively) that correlated well to improved sugar release during enzymatic hydrolysis for hydrophilic ionic liquids. However, reductions in crystallinity associated with hydrophobic ionic liquids resulted in lower sugar release during enzymatic hydrolysis. Compositional analysis generally showed increased sugars content for hydrophilic ILs and increased lignin content for hydrophobic ILs. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-23T21:07:47Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5dd1b734933e462081d844e7c280b9fe |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2296-598X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-23T21:07:47Z |
| publishDate | 2018-07-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Energy Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-5dd1b734933e462081d844e7c280b9fe2022-12-21T17:31:10ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Energy Research2296-598X2018-07-01610.3389/fenrg.2018.00067374816Three Way Comparison of Hydrophilic Ionic Liquid, Hydrophobic Ionic Liquid, and Dilute Acid for the Pretreatment of Herbaceous and Woody BiomassC. Luke WilliamsChenlin LiHongqiang HuJared C. AllenBrad J. ThomasThis paper examines the efficacy of ionic liquid (IL) pretreatment on seven different commercially harvested biomass types: corn stover, miscanthus, pine, sorghum, sugarcane bagasse, switchgrass, and wheat straw in an effort to improve the production of renewable fuels and chemicals from biomass derived sugars. Initial experiments screened the pretreatment of lodgepole pine, a particularly recalcitrant biomass feedstock, with nine different imidazolium based ionic liquids. After screening, one hydrophilic and one hydrophobic ionic liquid was selected for pretreatment tests on six commercially harvested biomasses. Ultimately, the hydrophilic ionic liquid functioned better for biomass pretreatment than the hydrophobic ionic liquid. These results were then compared to a traditional dilute acid pretreatment to examine the relative effectiveness of ionic liquid pretreatment across a variety of biomass and ionic liquid types. Total theoretical sugar yields after IL pretreatment varied widely by IL and biomass type and ranged from 4.9 to 90.2%. Dilute acid pretreatment showed consistent sugar yields for herbaceous material (from 71.4 to 80.8%) but low yield for lodgepole pine (22.8%). Overall, ILs showed the potential to reach slightly higher sugar yields than dilute acid and were particularly effective for woody feedstocks. More importantly, the sugar release kinetics for IL pretreatment were three times faster than dilute acid and gave maximum sugar yields after about 24 h. Additional characterization of IL treated materials included scanning electron microscopy (SEM), x-ray diffraction (XRD), and compositional analysis. SEM and XRD showed qualitative and quantitative reductions in cellulose crystallinity (respectively) that correlated well to improved sugar release during enzymatic hydrolysis for hydrophilic ionic liquids. However, reductions in crystallinity associated with hydrophobic ionic liquids resulted in lower sugar release during enzymatic hydrolysis. Compositional analysis generally showed increased sugars content for hydrophilic ILs and increased lignin content for hydrophobic ILs.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fenrg.2018.00067/fullionic liquidhydrophilichydrophobicdilute acidbiomass pretreatmentherbaceous |
| spellingShingle | C. Luke Williams Chenlin Li Hongqiang Hu Jared C. Allen Brad J. Thomas Three Way Comparison of Hydrophilic Ionic Liquid, Hydrophobic Ionic Liquid, and Dilute Acid for the Pretreatment of Herbaceous and Woody Biomass Frontiers in Energy Research ionic liquid hydrophilic hydrophobic dilute acid biomass pretreatment herbaceous |
| title | Three Way Comparison of Hydrophilic Ionic Liquid, Hydrophobic Ionic Liquid, and Dilute Acid for the Pretreatment of Herbaceous and Woody Biomass |
| title_full | Three Way Comparison of Hydrophilic Ionic Liquid, Hydrophobic Ionic Liquid, and Dilute Acid for the Pretreatment of Herbaceous and Woody Biomass |
| title_fullStr | Three Way Comparison of Hydrophilic Ionic Liquid, Hydrophobic Ionic Liquid, and Dilute Acid for the Pretreatment of Herbaceous and Woody Biomass |
| title_full_unstemmed | Three Way Comparison of Hydrophilic Ionic Liquid, Hydrophobic Ionic Liquid, and Dilute Acid for the Pretreatment of Herbaceous and Woody Biomass |
| title_short | Three Way Comparison of Hydrophilic Ionic Liquid, Hydrophobic Ionic Liquid, and Dilute Acid for the Pretreatment of Herbaceous and Woody Biomass |
| title_sort | three way comparison of hydrophilic ionic liquid hydrophobic ionic liquid and dilute acid for the pretreatment of herbaceous and woody biomass |
| topic | ionic liquid hydrophilic hydrophobic dilute acid biomass pretreatment herbaceous |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fenrg.2018.00067/full |
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