Facile Extraction of Wheat Straw by Deep Eutectic Solvent (DES) to Produce Lignin Nanoparticles

Journal Article · Mon Jun 17 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.8b05816· OSTI ID:1556914

Lou, Rui ^[1]; Ma, Ruoshui ^[2]; Lin, Kuan-ting ^[1]; Ahamed, Aftab C. ^[3]; Zhang, Xiao ^[1]

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1. Washington State University
2. BATTELLE (PACIFIC NW LAB)
3. WASHINGTON STATE UNIV

A detailed investigation of choline chloride-lactic acid (ChCl-LA)-based deep eutectic solvent (DES) extraction of lignin nanoparticles from herbaceous biomass (wheat straw) was conducted. It was found that DES can extract high purity lignin (up to 94.8%) with a high yield (up to 81.5% from air-dried samples and 85.9% from oven-dried samples) from wheat straw. The cleavages of ether bonds in lignin, as well as the linkages between lignin and hemicelluloses during DES treatments at different conditions, were analyzed. The effects of reaction time, treatment temperature and water content in wheat straw on lignin yield, purity, and chemical structure were determined. The water content in biomass was found to affect the hydrogen bond interaction between lignin and DES, which was a key factor influencing the lignin extraction yield and chemical properties of separated lignin. The lignin extracted from wheat straw by DES consists of well-dispersed nanoparticles with a narrow size distribution peaking at 70-90 nm. The mechanism of ChCl-LA-based DES depolymerization and extraction of lignin from wheat straw is discussed.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 1556914
• Report Number(s): PNNL-SA-144469
• Journal Information: ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, Vol. 7, Issue 12
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English