As the biorefinery concept evolves, the efficient utilization of lignocellulosic biomass and the ability to produce multiple products are becoming imperative to offset biorefinery costs and increase revenue. This study developed a path for manufacturing high performance polymeric products from lignocellulosic biomass through solvation in ionic liquid followed by regeneration.<br/>Our data show that by partially removing hemicellulose from the starting lignocellulosic biomass, it is possible to produce a stable solution with reasonable solid content and viscosity to solvent cast high quality hybrid poplar and switchgrass films. Because we used mild conditions to prepare the biomass-IL solution, a hierarchical structure of cellulose and lignin could be partially retained in the ionic liquid regenerated polymeric materials. Moreover, we demonstrated that the properties of the films were controlled by the coagulating solvent which directly impacted the lignin content and structure in the films. We hypothesize that since lignin and cellulose produce contrasting carbon yield during pyrolysis, hierarchical structure in these bio-products could help produce hierarchical porosity in carbon.

Role of lignin in the performance of regenerating lignocellulosic materials

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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