Rhododendron and Japanese Knotweed: invasive species as innovative crops for second generation biofuels for the ionoSolv process

We investigated the potential of two terrestrial biomass invasive species in the United-Kingdom as lignocellulosic biofuel feedstocks: Japanese Knotweed ( Fallopia japonica ) and Rhododendron ( Rhododendron ponticum ). We demonstrate that a pretreatment technique using a low-cost protic ionic liquid...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:RSC advances 2021-05, Vol.11 (3), p.18395-1843
Main Authors: Hennequin, Louis M, Polizzi, Karen, Fennell, Paul S, Hallett, Jason P
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alternative energy sources
Biofuels
Biomass
Cellulose
Chemistry
Ionic liquids
Lignocellulose
Nonnative species
Pretreatment
Sugar
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:We investigated the potential of two terrestrial biomass invasive species in the United-Kingdom as lignocellulosic biofuel feedstocks: Japanese Knotweed ( Fallopia japonica ) and Rhododendron ( Rhododendron ponticum ). We demonstrate that a pretreatment technique using a low-cost protic ionic liquid, the ionoSolv process, can be used for such types of plant species considered as waste, to allow their integration into a biorefinery. N , N , N -Dimethylbutylammonium hydrogen sulfate ([DMBA][HSO 4 ]) was able to fractionate the biomass into a cellulose-rich pulp and a lignin stream at high temperatures (150-170 °C) and short reaction times (15-60 minutes). More than 70-80% of the subsequent cellulose was hydrolysed into fermentable sugars, which were fermented into the renewable energy vector bioethanol. Japanese Knotweed ( Fallopia japonica ) and Rhododendron ( Rhododendron ponticum ), two invasive species in the UK that are an environmental threat and economic burden, can be integrated into a flexible ionic liquid based biorefinery process to produce bioenergy and chemicals.
ISSN:2046-2069
2046-2069
DOI:10.1039/d1ra01943k