Monday, April 30, 2012
Napoleon Ballroom C-D, 3rd fl (Sheraton New Orleans)
Ionic liquids (ILs) have potential as a pretreatment solvent because of their ability to dissolve whole biomass, which can then be readily precipitated with the addition of water. The precipitated biomass is decrystallized, partially delignified cellulose and hemicellulose, which can be converted to monomeric sugars with the addition of an enzyme cocktail. The enzymatic conversion of the IL pretreated biomass is measured over time to see pretreatment effects on both enzymatic rates and final conversions. In this work, the ionic liquid 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate (EmimAc) was studied because of its ability to dissolve whole biomass without further drying or processing.
The time-resolved enzymatic hydrolysis of a range of industrially relevant IL pretreatment conditions has been studied, and an Arrhenius model was developed to understand and predict pretreatment conditions that improve cellulose and hemicellulose enzymatic conversion. IL pretreatment time and temperature were varied to understand their impact on the enzymatic hydrolysis rate and final conversion for glucose and xylose production. The Arrhenius model provides insight into the mechanism behind enzymatically favorable pretreatments. With this process optimization, we have the potential to reduce enzyme loading and overall processing costs for IL pretreatment.