Pretreatment of Lignocellulosic Biomass with 1-Ethyl-3-methylimidazolium Acetate for Its Eventual Valorization by Anaerobic Digestion

Jose D. Marin-Batista, Angel F. Mohedano and Angeles de la Rubia
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Jose D. Marin-Batista: Chemical Engineering Department, Campus de Cantoblanco, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain
Angel F. Mohedano: Chemical Engineering Department, Campus de Cantoblanco, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain
Angeles de la Rubia: Chemical Engineering Department, Campus de Cantoblanco, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain

Resources, 2021, vol. 10, issue 12, 1-14

Abstract: This study assessed the breakdown of lignocellulosic biomass (LB) with the ionic liquid (IL) 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate ([Emim][Ac]) as a pretreatment to increase the methane yield. The pretreatment was conducted for wheat straw (WS), barley straw (BS), and grape stem (GS) at 120 °C for 120 min, using several LB to [Emim][Ac] ratios (1:1, 1:3, and 1:5 w/w ). Pretreatment significantly disrupted the lignocellulose matrix of each biomass into soluble sugars. GS showed the highest sugar yield, which was followed by WS, while BS was slightly hydrolyzed (175.3 ± 2.3, 158.2 ± 5.2, and 51.1 ± 3.1 mg glucose g –1 biomass, respectively). Likewise, the pretreatment significantly reduced the cellulose crystallinity index (CrI) of the resulting solid fractions of GS and WS by 15% and 9%, respectively, but slightly affected the CrI of BS (5%). Thus, BMP tests were only carried out for raw and hydrothermally and [Emim][Ac] (1:5) pretreated GS and WS. The untreated GS and WS showed similar methane yields to those achieved for the solid fraction obtained after pretreatment with an LB to [Emim][Ac] ratio of 1:5 (219 ± 10 and 368 ± 1 mL CH 4 g –1 VS, respectively). The methane production of the solid plus liquid fraction obtained after IL pretreatment increased by 1.61- and 1.34-fold compared to the raw GS and WS, respectively.

Keywords: anaerobic digestion; ionic liquid pretreatment; lignocellulosic waste; thermal pretreatment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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