Study of the influence of reutilization ionic liquid on lignin extraction

The development of green techniques for biomass processing and fractionation is crucial from the point of view of sustainability and environmental protection. Lignin is the second most abundant biorenewable material on Earth and ionic liquids are developed as green solvents because of their reutilization possibility and low vapour pressure. In this work, the recyclability of methylsulphate 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium ionic liquid on the extraction of lignin from biomass was studied. The experimental results showed that the obtained lignins were similar until the third cycle and the extraction process showed good performances, whereas in the fourth cycle it appeared ionic liquid contamination on the lignin and the performance decreased dramatically. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.