Journal
ACS SUSTAINABLE CHEMISTRY & ENGINEERING
Volume 2, Issue 5, Pages 1264-1269Publisher
AMER CHEMICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1021/sc500088w
Keywords
Ionic liquids; Switchgrass; Small-angle neutron scattering; Biopolymers; Physical entanglements; Biomass deconstruction
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Funding
- Genomic Science Program, Office of Biological and Environmental Research, U.S. Department of Energy [FWP ERKP7.52.]
- Office of Biological and Environmental Research [FWP ERKP291]
- Scientific User Facilities Division, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, U.S. Department of Energy
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory by the Scientific User Facilities Division, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, U.S. Department of Energy
- 525 Solutions, Inc. as part of DOE SBIR Grant [DE-SC0004198]
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Small-angle neutron scattering was used to characterize solutions of switchgrass and the constituent biopolymers cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin, as well as a physical mixture of them mimicking the composition of switchgrass, dissolved in the ionic liquid (IL) 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate. The results demonstrate that the IL dissolves the cellulose fibrils of switchgrass, although a supramolecular biopolymer network remains that is not present in solutions of the individual biopolymers and that does not self-assemble in a solution containing the physical mixture of the individual biopolymers. The persistence of a network-like structure indicates that dissolving switchgrass in the IL does not disrupt all of the physical entanglements and covalent linkages between the biopolymers created during plant growth. Reconstitution of the IL-dissolved switchgrass yields carbohydrate-rich material containing cellulose with a low degree of crystallinity, as determined by powder X-ray diffraction, which would impact potential downstream uses of the biopolymers produced by the process.
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