Highly efficient one-pot bioethanol production from corn stalk with biocompatible ionic liquids

Abstract

Efficient utilization of ionic liquids (ILs) for transforming lignocellulose into biofuel and alleviating concerns over shortages of nonrenewable resources is still an urgent issue. Herein, a highly efficient one-pot bioethanol production with biocompatible ILs was designed. XRD, TGA, and DSC analysis showed that pre-treatment of corn stalk with [Ch][Gly] trend to become easier to depolymerize than the untreated sample. Under one-pot process, the efficiency of [Ch][Gly] pretreated method could achieve a 9-fold sugar yield, i.e., 324.7 mg glucose/PU and 131.8 mg xylose/PU (1 PU = 10 g, 3 wt% [Ch][Gly] aqueous). The conditions for the whole process were optimized and the maximum yield% were achieved 80 % for glucose, 79 % for xylose, and 84 % for bioethanol. Besides, we found that increasing surface area and pore size could enhance accessibility for enzymes to attack cellulose and hemicellulose. The proposed study offers an efficient one-pot bioethanol production strategy with sustainable ILs.