Abstract
One of the major concerns for utilizing ionic liquid on an industrial scale is the cost involved in the production. Despite its proven pretreatment efficiency, expenses involved in its usage hinder its utilization. A better way to tackle this limitation could be overcome by studying the recyclability of ionic liquid. The current study has applied the Box–Behnken design (BBD) to optimize the pretreatment condition of rice straw through the usage of 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate (EMIM-Ac) as an ionic liquid. The model predicted the operation condition with 5% solid loading at 128.4 °C for 71.83 min as an optimum pretreatment condition. Under the optimized pretreatment condition, the necessity of the best anti-solvent was evaluated among water, acetone methanol, and their combinations. The study revealed that pure methanol is the suitable choice of anti-solvent, enhancing the highest sugar yield. Recyclability of EMIM-Ac coupled with anti-solvent was conducted up to five recycles following the predicted pretreatment condition. Fermentation studies evaluated the efficacy of recycled EMIM-Ac for ethanol production with 89% more ethanol production than the untreated rice straw even after five recycles. This study demonstrates the potential of recycled ionic liquid in ethanol production, thereby reducing the production cost at the industrial level.
Highlights
IntroductionThe growing urbanization and the tremendous growth of industries have led to a rise in energy requirements
Introduction published maps and institutional affilThe growing urbanization and the tremendous growth of industries have led to a rise in energy requirements
Several studies carried out previously reported pretreatment with ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate (EMIM-Ac) as efficient in various biomass and reported for more than 90% of sugar yield recovery from biomass [36–39]
Summary
The growing urbanization and the tremendous growth of industries have led to a rise in energy requirements. The production of energy from non-renewable origins as the main source is debated worldwide regarding its impact on environmental sustainability. Renewable energy in various forms has gained popularity and importance in policies of governmental and private sectors. Lignocellulosic biomass, being more abundant in nature, is considered the major biological feedstock for energy production. It is estimated that nearly 180 billion tons of lignocellulosic biomass are produced annually, having the potential to be converted into various high value-added goods, including biofuels, biochemicals, and biomaterials via the biorefinery process [1]. Lignocellulosic [2,3] material comprises cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin as biopolymeric constituents that can be broken down into reactive biomolecules, which are transformed into valuable products and fuels [4]
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