One of the main obstacles to the commercialization of lignocellulosic bioethanol is discovering profitable cellulose hydrolysis to sugars. �-glycosidic bonds of the cellulose are strongly protected by a hermetic structure of cellulose microfibers chains, making the access of reactants difficult. Therefore hydrolysis of cellulose requires strong conditions such as the use concentrated acids at high temperature. It is well known that the dissolution of cellulose in ionic liquids (IL) and its precipitation with an antisolvent produces a dramatic change in the cellulose structure. This new structure can make more accessible the �-glycosidic bonds for the reactants facilitating the cellulose hydrolysis. We have studied the pretreatment of cellulose and lignocellulosic biomass by dissolution in an IL and precipitation with water, and this solid is hydrolyzed in a water solution of an acid. We have analyzed the effect of several reaction variables on the hydrolysis of this treated biomass: the acid strength, temperature, kind of IL used in the pretreatment and different biomass sources in the acid hydrolysis. The pretreatment of dissolution in IL/precipitation yields a dramatic increase in the hydrolysis rate respect the untreated samples (see Figure). Using optimal reaction conditions, a high yield of glucose with almost complete conversion of cellulose in only 2 h was recorded.

Chemical hydrolysis of biomass pretreated with ionic liquids to obtain sugars

247th National Meeting (2014)

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