Abstract
Due to the substantial usage of fossil fuels, the utilization of lignocellulosic biomass as renewable sources for fuels and chemical production has been widely explored. The dissolution of lignocellulosic biomass in proper solvents is vital prior to the extraction of its important constituents, and ionic liquids (ILs) have been found to be efficient solvents for biomass dissolution. However, the high viscosity of ILs limits the dissolution process. Therefore, with the aim to enhance the dissolution of lignocellulosic biomass, a series of new ether-functionalized ILs with low viscosity values were synthesized and characterized. Their properties, such as density, viscosity and thermal stability, were analyzed and discussed in comparison with a common commercial IL, namely 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (BMIMCl). The presence of the ether group in the new ILs reduces the viscosity of the ILs to some appreciable extent in comparison to BMIMCl. 1-2(methoxyethyl)-3-methylimidazolium chloride (MOE-MImCl), which possesses the lowest viscosity value among the other ether-functionalized ILs, demonstrates an ability to be a powerful solvent in the application of biomass dissolution via the sonication method. In addition, an optimization study employing response surface methodology (RSM) was carried out in order to obtain the optimum conditions for maximum dissolution of biomass in the solvents. Results suggested that the maximum biomass dissolution can be achieved by using 3 weight% of initial biomass loading with 40% amplitude of sonication at 32.23 min of sonication period.
Highlights
A rapid growth in world population has led to high demand in fuel and chemicals supply [1]
Various studies that have been carried out suggested that the introduction of ether will alter the thermal properties of ionic liquids (ILs) by reducing their thermal stability and melting point in comparison to imidazolium ILs without ether group [28,29,30]
The incorporating of ether should have reduced the To of ether-functionalized ILs as compared to butyl3-methylimidazolium chloride (BMIMCl) due to the weak electrostatic interactions between cation and anion caused by the electron-donating effect, as can be seen in EOM-MImCl [32,33]
Summary
A rapid growth in world population has led to high demand in fuel and chemicals supply [1]. High demand for raw materials supplies in the chemical production industry has led to elevated prices of petroleum due to its limited source. A statement provided by BP on World Energy Day in 2014 suggested that the raw crude oil supply will only be able to last for 53.3 years [4]. Due to this alarming situation, the search for new renewable feedstock has become the main target for researchers. Lignocellulosic biomass, an inedible portion of dry plant materials, contains cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin, and this biomass is typically disposed of by combustion [5]
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