Ionic liquid/ultrasound pretreatment and in situ enzymatic saccharification of bagasse using biocompatible cholinium ionic liquid

Choline acetate (ChOAc), a cholinium ionic liquid (IL), showed almost the same bagasse pretreatment capability as 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate (EmimOAc), a conventional imidazolium IL used for biomass pretreatment. Moreover, ChOAc showed less of an inhibitory effect on cellulase than EmimOAc. Thus, ChOAc was used for IL/ultrasound-assisted pretreatment and in situ enzymatic saccharification, where IL was not washed out from the pretreated bagasse but diluted with the addition of a buffer solution. When in situ saccharification was performed for 48 h in the presence of 10% ChOAc, the cellulose and hemicellulose saccharification percentages were 80% and 72%, respectively. When ChOAc was increased to 20%, the saccharification percentages were 72% and 53%, respectively. However, the values were just 28% and 2%, respectively, in case of 20% EmimOAc. A glucose/xylose solution free from IL and ChOAc aqueous solution without these sugars could be recovered separately by electrodialysis of the hydrolysate of in situ saccharification. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.