Method for converting lignocellulosic materials into useful chemicals

摘要

A method of converting particulate lignocellulosic material to produce volatile organic compounds and char, comprising,
forming a mixture of the particulate lignocellulosic material with a catalyst composition containing polar organic liquid and an acid in the presence or absence of added water,heating the mixture to a temperature sufficiently high and for a period sufficiently long as to convert a major portion of any remaining solid phase of the mixture to char while agitating the mixture, andseparating volatile organic compounds and the catalyst composition as a gaseous phase from the solid phase.

主权项

1. A method of converting particulate lignocellulosic material to produce levoglucosenone and char, comprising the steps of:
forming a mixture of the particulate lignocellulosic material with a catalyst composition containing a polar organic liquid and an acid, heating the mixture to convert a major portion of a solid phase of the mixture to char and to vaporize a volatile fraction of the catalyst composition during the conversion of the solid phase to char, carrying out the heating in a screw reactor under a pressure less than 900 millibar and a temperature in the range of 190° C. to 500° C. while the mixture is subjected to shearing and compression by the screw reactor to produce levoglucosenone, injecting steam into the screw reactor during the shearing and compression, and separating the levoglucosenone and the volatile fraction of the catalyst composition as a gaseous phase from the solid phase during the shearing and compression, wherein the polar organic liquid is a room temperature ionic liquid having the general formula AxMy, where A is an organic cation; M is an anion drawn from halide, sulfate, or organic anions; and x and y are integers, or wherein the polar organic liquid is a dipolar aprotic liquid.