Abstract
Biomass is recognised as one of the most attractive feedstocks among the alternative resources, having a high potential for the sustainable production of valuable chemicals and biofuels. Due to its abundance, convenience, carbon neutrality and eco-friendliness, biomass is believed to positively impact the current environmental crisis caused by the extensive use of petroleum resources. For this reason, the search for processes that can convert this feedstock, resolving some inherent drawbacks, is needed. Biomass liquefaction using ionic liquids (ILs) as catalysts has received appreciable attention in renewable fuels and chemicals production. With the potential for a substantial number of anion and cation pairings, ILs can be an attractive medium towards reusability and sustainability for these processes due to the unique and tunable combinations of their functional groups-and, therefore, their properties. In this review, several studies using ILs in biomass liquefaction are compared and discussed. With a particular emphasis on the last five years, advantages and disadvantages will be discussed using this class of liquids addressing essential issues such as yields, reusability and conversion, among others.
Highlights
Our modern lifestyle, as we know it, is about to change
Convenience, carbon neutrality and eco-friendliness, biomass is believed to positively impact the current environmental crisis caused by the extensive use of petroleum resources
With smaller liquefaction yields 43–75%, Wu and co-workers [7] studied a similar type of biomass, Eucalyptus grandis sawdust obtained from a wood processing factory, with higher cellulose percentage (47.9% cellulose, 71.2% holocellulose, 27.1% Klason lignin and 0.29% ash) to obtain microcrystalline cellulose (MCC)
Summary
As we know it, is about to change. Oil depletion is becoming a reality. Lu et al [5] explored green and efficient ways to convert fir sawdust (41.01% cellulose, 27.09% hemicellulose, 30.24% acid-insoluble lignin and 1.66% ash) taken from a wood processing factory into sustainable energy and chemicals Lu and his team first investigated biomass liquefaction using a polyethylene glycol 400 (PEG400)-glycerol mixture at atmospheric pressure with an Acidic Ionic Liquid (AIL) catalyst. With smaller liquefaction yields 43–75%, Wu and co-workers [7] studied a similar type of biomass, Eucalyptus grandis sawdust obtained from a wood processing factory, with higher cellulose percentage (47.9% cellulose, 71.2% holocellulose, 27.1% Klason lignin and 0.29% ash) to obtain microcrystalline cellulose (MCC). The authors found that the maximum sawdust conversion of 69.8% and liquid yield of 49.5% of bio-oil was obtained using [bmim][Cl/NiCl2] as a catalyst with supercritical ethanol.
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