Organosolv liquefaction of sugarcane bagasse catalyzed by acidic ionic liquids

• An intensified process for bagasse all-components liquefaction is provided.
• The efficient delignification substantially promotes the carbohydrate conversion.
• 97.5% of bagasse is liquefied with 66.46% of volatile product yield at 200 °C.
• No obvious activity loss is shown for the acid IL catalyst even after five runs.
• A signification decrease of the reaction temperature is demonstrated.

An efficient and eco-friendly process is proposed for sugarcane bagasse liquefaction under mild condition using IL catalyst and environmental friendly solvent of ethanol/H2O. The relationship between IL acidic strength and its catalytic performance is investigated. The effects of reaction condition parameters such as catalyst dosage, temperature, time and solvent are also intensively studied. The results show that ethanol/H2O has a significant promotion effect on the simultaneous liquefaction of sugarcane bagasse carbohydrate and lignin. 97.5% of the bagasse can be liquefied with 66.46% of volatile product yield at 200 °C for 30 min. Furthermore, the IL catalyst shows good recyclability where no significant loss of the catalytic activity is exhibited even after five runs.