Ionic liquid pretreatment of poplar wood at room temperature: swelling and incorporation of nanoparticles

Conference · Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2010

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/am100371q· OSTI ID:1000944

Lucas, Marcel ^[1]; Macdonald, Brian A ^[1]; Wagner, Gregory L ^[1]; Joyce, Steven A ^[1]; Rector, Kirk D ^[1]

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1. Los Alamos National Laboratory

Lignocellulosic biomass represents a potentially sustainable source of liquid fuels and commodity chemicals. It could satisfy the energy needs for transportation and electricity generation, while contributing substantially to carbon sequestration and limiting the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Potential feedstocks are abundant and include crops, agricultural wastes, forest products, grasses, and algae. Among those feedstocks, wood is mainly constituted of three components: cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. The conversion process of lignocellulosic biomass typically consists of three steps: (1) pretreatment; (2) hydrolysis of cellulose and hemicellulose into fermentable sugars; and (3) fermentation of the sugars into liquid fuels (ethanol) and other commodity chemicals. The pretreatment step is necessary due to the complex structure of the plant cell wall and the chemical resistance of lignin. Most current pretreatments are energy-intensive and/or polluting. So it is imperative to develop new pretreatments that are economically viable and environmentally friendly. Recently, ionic liquids have attracted considerable interest, due to their ability to dissolve biopolymers, such as cellulose, lignin, native switchgrass, and others. Ionic liquids are also considered green solvents, since they have been successfully recycled at high yields for further use with limited efficiency loss. Also, a few microbial cellulases remain active at high ionic liquid concentration. However, all studies on the dissolution of wood in ionic liquids have been conducted so far at high temperatures, typically above 90 C. Development of alternative pretreatments at room temperature is desirable to eliminate the additional energy cost. In this study, thin sections of poplar wood were swollen at room temperature by a 3 h ionic liquid (1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate or EMIMAc) pretreatment. The pretreated sample was then exposed to an aqueous suspension of nanoparticles that resulted in the sample contraction and the deposition of nanoparticles onto the surface and embedded into the cell wall. To date, both silver and gold particles ranging in size from 40-100 nm have been incorporated into wood. Penetration of gold nanoparticles of 100 nm diameter in the cell walls was best confirmed by near-infrared confocal Raman microscopy, since the deposition of gold nanoparticles induces a significant enhancement of the Raman signal from the wood in their close proximity, an enhancement attributed to the surface-enhanced Raman effect (SERS). After rinsing with water, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Raman images of the same areas show that most nanoparticles remained on the pretreated sample. Raman images at different depths reveal that a significant number of nanoparticles were incorporated into the wood sample, at depths up to 4 {micro}m, or 40 times the diameter of the nanoparticles. Control experiments on an untreated wood sample resulted in the deposition of nanoparticles only at the surface and most nanoparticles were removed upon rinsing. This particle incorporation process enables the development of new pretreatments, since the nanoparticles have a high surface-to-volume ratio and could be chemically functionalized. Other potential applications for the incorporated nanoparticles include isotope tracing, catalysis, imaging agents, drug-delivery systems, energy-storage devices, and chemical sensors.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC52-06NA25396
• OSTI ID: 1000944
• Report Number(s): LA-UR-10-02017; LA-UR-10-2017; TRN: US201101%%723
• Resource Relation: Journal Volume: 2; Journal Issue: 8; Conference: American Chemical Society ; August 18, 2010 ; Boston, MA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
AGRICULTURAL WASTES
CARBON SEQUESTRATION
CELL WALL
CELLULASE
CELLULOSE
DEPOSITION
ENERGY ACCOUNTING
ENERGY STORAGE
GOLD
GREENHOUSE GASES
LIGNIN
LIQUID FUELS
PLANT CELLS
POPLARS
RAMAN EFFECT
SACCHARIDES
SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
SWELLING
WOOD