Integrated Low Temperature Ionic Liquid Pretreatment and Fractionation of Biomass

The high crystallinity of cellulose of native lignocellulosic biomass, while imparting structural integrity and mechanical strength to the material, renders it recalcitrance towards hydrolysis aimed at producing glucose. Neither water molecules nor catalysts for hydrolysis (saccharification) are able to easily penetrate the crystalline matrix. Room temperature pre-processing is coupled with ionic liquid incubation (IL) at low temperatures ranging between 30 and 50^oC, producing an easily hydrolysable cellulosic substrate at dramatically lower incubation temperatures. Moreover, by altering the IL displacement solvents, this method can be tuned to retain or reject biomass components from the IL phase, providing a method for separation of hexose and pentose sugars.