IONIC LIQUID PRETREATMENT OF CELLULOSIC BIOMASS: ENZYMATIC HYDROLYSIS AND IONIC LIQUID RECYCLE

摘要

The present invention relates to compositions and methods of pretreating cellulosic biomass with an ionic liquid. More specifically it relates to pretreating cellulosic biomass in an ionic liquid and adding a salt containing a kosmotropic anion to facilitate separation of precipitated solids, the aqueous phase, and the ionic liquid phase. The ionic liquid phase may be recycled in a subsequent pretreatment step, and the precipitated solids are enzymatically hydrolyzed to produce smaller oligomers of cellulose, cellbiose, and/or glucose. The kosmotropic anion facilitates phase separation where the aqueous phase contains very low concentrations of the ionic liquid.