Biomass pretreatment with distillable ionic liquids for an effective recycling and recovery approach

Ezinne C. Achinivu; Brian W. Blankenship; Nawa Raj Baral; Hemant Choudhary; Ramu Kakumanu; Mood Mohan; Edward E.K. Baidoo; Corinne D. Scown; Anthe George; Blake A. Simmons; John Gladden

doi:10.1016/j.cej.2023.147824

Biomass pretreatment with distillable ionic liquids for an effective recycling and recovery approach

Ezinne C. Achinivu, Brian W. Blankenship, Nawa Raj Baral, Hemant Choudhary, Ramu Kakumanu, Mood Mohan, Edward E.K. Baidoo, Corinne D. Scown, Anthe George, Blake A. Simmons, John Gladden

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

Ionic liquid (IL) pretreatment methods show incredible promise for the efficient conversion of lignocellulosic feedstocks to fuels and chemicals. Given their low vapor pressures, distillation-based methods of extracting ionic liquids out of biomass post-pretreatment have historically been ignored in favor of alternative methods. We demonstrate a process to distill four acetate-based ionic liquids ([EthA][OAc], [PropA][OAc], [MAEthA][OAc], and [DMAEthA][OAc]) at low pressure and high purity that overcome some disadvantages of “water washing” and “one pot” recovery methods. Out of four tested ILs, ethanolamine acetate ([EthA][OAc]) is shown to have the most agreeable conversion metrics for commercial bioconversion processes achieving 73.6 % and 51.4 % of theoretical glucose and xylose yields respectively and >85 % recovery rates. Our process metrics are factored into a techno-economic analysis where [EthA][OAc] distillation is compared to other recovery methods as well as ethanolamine pretreatment at both milliliter and liter scales. Although our TEA shows [EthA][OAc] distillation underperforming against other processes, we show a step-by-step avenue to reduce sugar production cost below the wholesale dextrose price at scale.

Original language	English
Article number	147824
Journal	Chemical Engineering Journal
Volume	479
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2023.147824
State	Published - Jan 1 2024
Externally published	Yes

Funding

This work was part of the DOE Joint BioEnergy Institute (https://www.jbei.org) supported by the U. S. Department of Energy , Office of Science , Office of Biological and Environmental Research , through contract DE-AC02-05CH11231 between Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the U. S. Department of Energy . The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes. This work was part of the DOE Joint BioEnergy Institute (https://www.jbei.org) supported by the U. S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Biological and Environmental Research, through contract DE-AC02-05CH11231 between Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the U. S. Department of Energy. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes.

Funders	Funder number
United States Government
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Science
Biological and Environmental Research	DE-AC02-05CH11231
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Keywords

Biomass deconstruction
Cellulose
Distillation
Lignin
Protic ionic liquids
Sustainability

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.cej.2023.147824

Cite this

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title = "Biomass pretreatment with distillable ionic liquids for an effective recycling and recovery approach",

abstract = "Ionic liquid (IL) pretreatment methods show incredible promise for the efficient conversion of lignocellulosic feedstocks to fuels and chemicals. Given their low vapor pressures, distillation-based methods of extracting ionic liquids out of biomass post-pretreatment have historically been ignored in favor of alternative methods. We demonstrate a process to distill four acetate-based ionic liquids ([EthA][OAc], [PropA][OAc], [MAEthA][OAc], and [DMAEthA][OAc]) at low pressure and high purity that overcome some disadvantages of “water washing” and “one pot” recovery methods. Out of four tested ILs, ethanolamine acetate ([EthA][OAc]) is shown to have the most agreeable conversion metrics for commercial bioconversion processes achieving 73.6 % and 51.4 % of theoretical glucose and xylose yields respectively and >85 % recovery rates. Our process metrics are factored into a techno-economic analysis where [EthA][OAc] distillation is compared to other recovery methods as well as ethanolamine pretreatment at both milliliter and liter scales. Although our TEA shows [EthA][OAc] distillation underperforming against other processes, we show a step-by-step avenue to reduce sugar production cost below the wholesale dextrose price at scale.",

keywords = "Biomass deconstruction, Cellulose, Distillation, Lignin, Protic ionic liquids, Sustainability",

author = "Achinivu, {Ezinne C.} and Blankenship, {Brian W.} and Baral, {Nawa Raj} and Hemant Choudhary and Ramu Kakumanu and Mood Mohan and Baidoo, {Edward E.K.} and Scown, {Corinne D.} and Anthe George and Simmons, {Blake A.} and John Gladden",

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AU - Achinivu, Ezinne C.

AU - Blankenship, Brian W.

AU - Baral, Nawa Raj

AU - Choudhary, Hemant

AU - Kakumanu, Ramu

AU - Mohan, Mood

AU - Baidoo, Edward E.K.

AU - Scown, Corinne D.

AU - George, Anthe

AU - Simmons, Blake A.

AU - Gladden, John

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AB - Ionic liquid (IL) pretreatment methods show incredible promise for the efficient conversion of lignocellulosic feedstocks to fuels and chemicals. Given their low vapor pressures, distillation-based methods of extracting ionic liquids out of biomass post-pretreatment have historically been ignored in favor of alternative methods. We demonstrate a process to distill four acetate-based ionic liquids ([EthA][OAc], [PropA][OAc], [MAEthA][OAc], and [DMAEthA][OAc]) at low pressure and high purity that overcome some disadvantages of “water washing” and “one pot” recovery methods. Out of four tested ILs, ethanolamine acetate ([EthA][OAc]) is shown to have the most agreeable conversion metrics for commercial bioconversion processes achieving 73.6 % and 51.4 % of theoretical glucose and xylose yields respectively and >85 % recovery rates. Our process metrics are factored into a techno-economic analysis where [EthA][OAc] distillation is compared to other recovery methods as well as ethanolamine pretreatment at both milliliter and liter scales. Although our TEA shows [EthA][OAc] distillation underperforming against other processes, we show a step-by-step avenue to reduce sugar production cost below the wholesale dextrose price at scale.

KW - Biomass deconstruction

KW - Cellulose

KW - Distillation

KW - Lignin

KW - Protic ionic liquids

KW - Sustainability

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Biomass pretreatment with distillable ionic liquids for an effective recycling and recovery approach

Abstract

Funding

Keywords

UN SDGs

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