Pretreatment of Lignocellulosic Biomass and Recovery of Substituents using Natural Deep Eutectic Solvents/Compound Mixtures with Low Transition Temperatures

摘要

Low transition temperature mixtures (LTTMs) or solvents are provided that can be used in methods and systems to dissolve and bydrolyze certain components from lignin-containing biomass (e.g., lignin) at mild conditions so that further degradation is prevented. The solvents, methods and systems according to the invention have various advantages over prior technology or approaches. For example, LTTMs are cheap solvents, renewable and/or non-toxic food ingredients. LTTMs dissolve lignin selectively from a lignin-containing biomass. A highly efficient (up to 90%) lignin recovery can be achieved. The recovered lignin is of higher quality. The remaining cellulose is also of higher. Much less water is needed, which means a tremendous reduction of the energy requirement in the recovery process, i.e. less energy needed for evaporating large quantities of water.

主权项

1. A method of separating lignin from a lignin-containing biomass, comprising:
(a) having said lignin-containing biomass; (b) having a low transition temperature mixture (LTTM), wherein said LTTM is a combination of a hydrogen bond donor and a hydrogen bond acceptor, both of which are solids at about room temperature, and wherein said LTTM is a liquid within a first temperature range around said room temperature; (c) dissolving lignin of said lignin-containing biomass into said LTTM at a temperature within a second temperature range; (d) separating said dissolved lignin and said LTTM from solids remaining in said biomass; and (e) recovering said dissolved lignin from said LTTM.