Room temperature Ionic Liquids (IL), a new class of green chemicals, are attracting attention for their ability to dissolve and enzymolyze biomass components. The influence of IL pretreatment on biomass pyrolysis has yet to be investigated. The ability to use a green, economical pretreatment to result in upgraded pyrolysis biofuels, together with the production of a value-added carbon adsorbent from the solid biochar, could reduce the economic and environmental costs of the integrated biorefinery. In the present work, rice hull and wheat straw are immersed in an aqueous solution of alkaline 1-buthyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate ([Bmim][OAc]) until the biomass swells. The changes in cellulose content, crystallinity, distribution of functional groups and thermal stability are compared between raw and pretreated biomass to determine the ability of the IL to reduce the activation energy barriers to pyrolysis and impacts of structural changes. GC-MS is used to determine the upgrading effects of IL-pretreatment on pyrolysis biofuels, such as phenols and alcohols, furans and hydrocarbons. Subsequently, standard methylene blue (MB) adsorption kinetics and isotherm experiments are performed on the pyrolysis biochar to determine the relative adsorption capacities, as well as micromorphology (SEM) and pore characterization (BET). On-going work explores the recyclability of [Bmim][OAc] for the potential industrial application by comparing two methods for recycling [BMIM]OAc from the pretreatment experiments.

Ionic liquid pretreatment for sustainable biofuels from low-temperature biomass pyrolysis

2019 Fall National Meeting

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