Valorization of Miscanthus x giganteus by γ-Valerolactone/H2O/FeCl3 system toward efficient conversion of cellulose and hemicelluloses

gamma-Valerolactone (GVL), a biomass-derived green chemical, offers an environmentally responsible solvent for conversion of lignocellulose to high value-added chemicals. Herein, we report a two-step process for directly producing cellulosic residual, furfural and lignin from Miscanthus x giganteus (M. x giganteus) bypassing the isolation of xylose, which exhibits promising advantage in energy reduction. The optimized pretreatment (100 mM FeCl3 at 160 degrees C for 60 min) induced significant xylan removal (98.4%), resulting in rugged fibre surface, thus leading to the peak cellulose conversion of 99.3%. Furfural yield in the second step reached to 76.6% after 100 mM FeCl3 catalyzed GVL/H2O treatment at 180 degrees C for 10 min without addition of any chemical. The extracted lignin showed representative structure (such as 13-O-4', 13-13' linkages) and medium molecular weight (4275.5 g/mol). 79.6% of furfural can be recovered by distillation. This study proposes a systematic and energy efficient approach for maximizing biomass utilization.

Automated summary

This study presents a two-step process for producing cellulosic residual, furfural, and lignin directly from Miscanthus x giganteus, offering a systematic and energy efficient approach for maximizing biomass utilization.