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Title: Survey of renewable chemicals produced from lignocellulosic biomass during ionic liquid pretreatment

Abstract

Background: Lignin is often overlooked in the valorization of lignocellulosic biomass, but lignin-based materials and chemicals represent potential value-added products for biorefineries that could significantly improve the economics of a biorefinery. Fluctuating crude oil prices and changing fuel specifications are some of the driving factors to develop new technologies that could be used to convert polymeric lignin into low molecular weight lignin and or monomeric aromatic feedstocks to assist in the displacement of the current products associated with the conversion of a whole barrel of oil. We present an approach to produce these chemicals based on the selective breakdown of lignin during ionic liquid pretreatment. Results: The lignin breakdown products generated are found to be dependent on the starting biomass, and significant levels were generated on dissolution at 160°C for 6 hrs. Guaiacol was produced on dissolution of biomass and technical lignins. Vanillin was produced on dissolution of kraft lignin and eucalytpus. Syringol and allyl guaiacol were the major products observed on dissolution of switchgrass and pine, respectively, whereas syringol and allyl syringol were obtained by dissolution of eucalyptus. Furthermore, it was observed that different lignin-derived products could be generated by tuning the process conditions. Conclusions: We have developed anmore » ionic liquid based process that depolymerizes lignin and converts the low molecular weight lignin fractions into a variety of renewable chemicals from biomass. The generated chemicals (phenols, guaiacols, syringols, eugenol, catechols), their oxidized products (vanillin, vanillic acid, syringaldehyde) and their easily derivatized hydrocarbons (benzene, toluene, xylene, styrene, biphenyls and cyclohexane) already have relatively high market value as commodity and specialty chemicals, green building materials, nylons, and resins.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [1];  [1]
  1. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Emeryville, CA (United States); Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States)
  2. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Emeryville, CA (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER). Biological Systems Science Division
OSTI Identifier:
1511352
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-05CH11231
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Biotechnology for Biofuels
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 6; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 1754-6834
Publisher:
BioMed Central
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
09 BIOMASS FUELS; Lignin valorization; Ionic liquid pretreatment; Renewable chemicals; Biofuels

Citation Formats

Varanasi, Patanjali, Singh, Priyanka, Auer, Manfred, Adams, Paul D., Simmons, Blake A., and Singh, Seema. Survey of renewable chemicals produced from lignocellulosic biomass during ionic liquid pretreatment. United States: N. p., 2013. Web. doi:10.1186/1754-6834-6-14.
Varanasi, Patanjali, Singh, Priyanka, Auer, Manfred, Adams, Paul D., Simmons, Blake A., & Singh, Seema. Survey of renewable chemicals produced from lignocellulosic biomass during ionic liquid pretreatment. United States. https://doi.org/10.1186/1754-6834-6-14
Varanasi, Patanjali, Singh, Priyanka, Auer, Manfred, Adams, Paul D., Simmons, Blake A., and Singh, Seema. Mon . "Survey of renewable chemicals produced from lignocellulosic biomass during ionic liquid pretreatment". United States. https://doi.org/10.1186/1754-6834-6-14. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1511352.
@article{osti_1511352,
title = {Survey of renewable chemicals produced from lignocellulosic biomass during ionic liquid pretreatment},
author = {Varanasi, Patanjali and Singh, Priyanka and Auer, Manfred and Adams, Paul D. and Simmons, Blake A. and Singh, Seema},
abstractNote = {Background: Lignin is often overlooked in the valorization of lignocellulosic biomass, but lignin-based materials and chemicals represent potential value-added products for biorefineries that could significantly improve the economics of a biorefinery. Fluctuating crude oil prices and changing fuel specifications are some of the driving factors to develop new technologies that could be used to convert polymeric lignin into low molecular weight lignin and or monomeric aromatic feedstocks to assist in the displacement of the current products associated with the conversion of a whole barrel of oil. We present an approach to produce these chemicals based on the selective breakdown of lignin during ionic liquid pretreatment. Results: The lignin breakdown products generated are found to be dependent on the starting biomass, and significant levels were generated on dissolution at 160°C for 6 hrs. Guaiacol was produced on dissolution of biomass and technical lignins. Vanillin was produced on dissolution of kraft lignin and eucalytpus. Syringol and allyl guaiacol were the major products observed on dissolution of switchgrass and pine, respectively, whereas syringol and allyl syringol were obtained by dissolution of eucalyptus. Furthermore, it was observed that different lignin-derived products could be generated by tuning the process conditions. Conclusions: We have developed an ionic liquid based process that depolymerizes lignin and converts the low molecular weight lignin fractions into a variety of renewable chemicals from biomass. The generated chemicals (phenols, guaiacols, syringols, eugenol, catechols), their oxidized products (vanillin, vanillic acid, syringaldehyde) and their easily derivatized hydrocarbons (benzene, toluene, xylene, styrene, biphenyls and cyclohexane) already have relatively high market value as commodity and specialty chemicals, green building materials, nylons, and resins.},
doi = {10.1186/1754-6834-6-14},
journal = {Biotechnology for Biofuels},
number = 1,
volume = 6,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Jan 28 00:00:00 EST 2013},
month = {Mon Jan 28 00:00:00 EST 2013}
}

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Cited by: 143 works
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Figures / Tables:

Figure 1 Figure 1: Schematic depiction of the different routes to convert lignin into renewable materials and chemicals.

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The effect of degree of polymerization on glass-transition temperatures
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Works referencing / citing this record:

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Precipitate obtained following membrane separation of hydrothermally pretreated rice straw liquid revealed by 2D NMR to have high lignin content
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Figures/Tables have been extracted from DOE-funded journal article accepted manuscripts.