A simple and efficient method of enhancing biomass saccharification by microwave-assisted pretreatment with dimethyl sulfoxide/1-allyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride is proposed. Softwood（pine wood（PW））, hardwoods（poplar wood, catalpa bungi, and Chinese parasol）, and agricultural wastes（rice straw, wheat straw, and corn stover（CS）） were exploited. Results showed that the best pretreatment effect was in PW with 54.3% and 31.7% dissolution and extraction ratios, respectively. The crystal form of cellulose in PW extract transformed from I to II, and the contended cellulose ratio and glucose conversion ratio reached 85.1% and 85.4%, respectively. CS after steam explosion achieved a similar pretreating effect as PW, with its cellulose hydrolysis ratio reaching as high as 91.5% after IL pretreatment.
Molecular distillation was used to recover ionic liquid(IL) 1-allyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride(AmimCl) in homogeneous cellulose acetylation.The five factors that affect the separation efficiency of molecular distillation,namely,feed flow rate,distillation temperature,feed temperature,wiper rotating speed,and distillation pressure,are discussed.The optimal recovery condition was determined via orthogonal experiments using an OA9(34) design.The IL was recycled and reused 5 times in the homogeneous cellulose acetylation system under optimal conditions.The purity of recycled IL the 5th time reached 99.56%.FT-IR(Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy) and 1H NMR(nuclear magnetic resonance) spectroscopy showed that the structure of the recovered IL is not changed.This work proves that AmimCl has excellent reusability,and that molecular distillation is an effective method for recovering IL in homogeneous cellulose acetylation.
