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.