Pretreatment of corn straw using the alkaline solution of ionic liquids

• DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2018.03.117
• Publication Date: 2018-03-30T08:32:21Z
• Authors: Zhen Liu; Longfei Li; Cheng Liu; Airong Xu
• Keywords: Hydrolysis; Imidazoles; 0211 other engineering and technologies; Ionic Liquids; Biomass; 02 engineering and technology; Cellulose; Lignin; Zea mays

In the present work, the pretreatment of corn stalk with the solution of 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate ([Emim]Ac) ionic liquid containing NaOH was explored for its lignin removal. The effects of reaction temperature, reaction time, and solid-liquid ratio on the lignin removal efficiency were determined by the response surface methodology (RSM). The pretreatment conditions were optimized by the Box-Behnken design and the comparative study of the composition and structure of corn straw before and after the pretreatment to be: reaction temperature 98.5 °C, reaction time 1.31 h, and solid-liquid ratio 1:8.7. Under the optimized conditions, the cellulose and hemicellulose contents of the corn straw were increased to 85.69% and 9.1%, respectively, and the lignin content was reduced to 2.27% with the lignin removal efficiency up to 87.4%.