Cholinium amino acids-glycerol mixtures: New class of solvents for pretreating wheat straw to facilitate enzymatic hydrolysis

Abstract

New solvents for pretreating wheat straw, mixtures of cholinium amino acids ionic liquids ([Ch][AA] ILs) and glycerol, were developed. As a typical result, 50% cholinium alanine-glycerol is capable of removing 67.6% lignin while reserving 95.1% cellulose (90°C, L/S mass ratio of 20:1, 6h) and the conversions of cellulose and xylan are 89.7% and 70.9%, respectively, which is comparable to the pretreatment capability of other solvents, while [Ch][AA]-glycerol mixtures have desirable advantages, e.g., biocompatibility, lower cost with adding glycerol than pure IL, much lower pretreatment temperature (typically <100°C) than that by glycerol (typically >200°C). Lignin removal and polysaccharide conversion are dependent on [Ch][AA] content and pH of pretreatment solvents. [Ch][AA] not only remove lignin in wheat straw effectively but also swell cellulose while not remarkably dissolve cellulose with high cellulose reservation, favoring the enzymatic hydrolysis. Such mixtures of ILs and co-solvents are potential solvents for pretreating biomass.