Kinetic study on the decomposition of cellulose into 5-hydroxymethylfurfural in an ionic liquid/organic biphasic system

The kinetics of cellulose decomposition in an ionic liquid/organic solvent were investigated using microcrystalline cellulose as the raw material. Curve fitting of the cellulose degradation kinetic data was conducted using MATLAB. Results indicated that the catalytic decomposition reactions of cellulose, glucose and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF), along with the diffusion process of 5-HMF, were all first-order reactions in the biphasic system. The decomposition rate constants of cellulose, glucose and 5-HMF, along with the diffusion coefficient of 5-HMF (k(5)), in the biphasic system were obtained using the first-order reaction model. The organic solvent could suppress the formation of by-products to a certain extent and reduced the activation energy of cellulose, glucose and 5-HMF degradation by 4.24 % Vs, 5.17 % and 3.73 %, respectively, compared with cellulose degradation in ionic liquid. The amount of organic solvent had little effect on glucose yield within the optimum reaction time and did not ascertain the presence of glucose in the organic solvent. k(5) was relatively small and increased with an increase in temperature, reaction time and amounts of [BMIM]Cl, catalyst and organic solvent, with temperature exerting the greatest effect.