Lignocellulosic biomass, which mainly consists of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin, is the most promising substitute to fossil-based resources. To profitably valorize the lignocellulosic biomass, efficient and green approaches need to be developed for fractionation and sequential conversion of each fractionated streams to high-value products. In this work, formic acid fractionation under pressure was firstly explored for the selective separation of lignocellulosic biomass. The process under optimized conditions using 85% formic acid, a liquor-to-solid ratio of 7:1, and a temperature of 145 °C for 45 min presented a high-performance in fractionating bamboo into 42.2% cellulose fiber, 31.5% lignin, and 8.5% hemicellulose fractions. To reveal the structural features of the fractionated lignin and to facilitate the subsequent valorization, different analysis techniques, including FTIR, GPC and NMR, were performed. The results proved that the formic acid fractionation under pressure could accelerate the isolation of lignin by enhancing the cleavage of interunitary bonds in lignin (β-O-4, β-β, and β-5′). Moreover, the high purity and abundant functional groups in the isolated lignin, such as phenolic hydroxyl and carboxylic groups, greatly increase its possibility of the subsequent conversion. It was found that the formic acid lignin could be processed into nanoparticles, which exhibited spherical morphology and a uniform particle size distribution. Thereafter, multi-functional nanocomposites based on lignin nanoparticles and nanocellulose prepared from the fractionated cellulose fiber were developed and characterized. Moreover, modified lignin-based hybrid magnetic nanoparticles were also prepared and presented excellent performance for the adsorption of heavy metal ions. This work has demonstrated the feasibility for building an integrated biorefinery platform based on formic acid fractionation of lignocellulosic biomass.

Formic acid fractionation of lignocellulosic biomass and valorization of lignin

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.