Abstract
The current work focuses on the comparison of renewable choline cation-based ionic liquids (ILs) with imidazolium cation-based ILs for their delignification performance. Choline cation-based ILs removed a higher percentage of lignin (78.1–83.7% vs. 51.4–64.5%) and hemicellulose (64.7–72.8% vs. 7.1–29.9%) from sugarcane straw pre-treatment compared to imidazolium cation-based ILs. This was mainly attributed to the presence of fewer alkyl group and extra –OH group in choline cation. In general, ILs pre-treatment significantly increased the volatile matter and reduced fixed carbon in regenerated cellulose-rich material. Higher content of cellulose and higher crystallinity in the case of choline-based ILs enhanced the production of furfural and levoglucosenone from the pyrolysis of regenerated cellulose rich material. On the contrary, the presence of higher content of amorphous cellulose from imidazolium-based ILs, particularly 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate produced γ-butyrolactone. Therefore, ILs pre-treatment can be favourable for the selective production of platform chemicals via pyrolysis route.
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This work was supported by the School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia. The first author is indebted to the School of Engineering, RMIT University for his postgraduate scholarship.
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Halder, P., Kundu, S., Patel, S. et al. Furfural and levoglucosenone production from the pyrolysis of ionic liquid pre-treated sugarcane straw. Cellulose 28, 133–151 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-020-03547-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-020-03547-2