Recovery of an ionic liquid [BMIM]Cl from a hydrolysate of lignocellulosic biomass using electrodialysis

•Ionic liquid from hydrolysate was recovered using electrodialysis.•Influence of operating parameters on the process performance was investigated.•Process performance was recovered by chemical cleaning as reversible fouling.•Hydrolysate of a lignocellulosic biomass did not give significant fouling effect.

In this study, an ionic liquid was recovered in electrodialysis (ED) of the liquid fraction (hydrolysate) from the softwood biomass pretreated with an ionic liquid, [BMIM]Cl (1-butyl-3-methylimidazaolium chloride). The influence of operating parameters (electrical potential and ionic liquid concentration) on the ED performance was investigated. The results showed that the process performance increased with increasing electrical potential and ionic liquid concentration. In this study, the process performance decreased due to the deposition of ionic liquid during ED experiments of the hydrolysate. However, the process performance was recovered by chemical cleaning as reversible fouling. A feasibility study on the ionic liquid recovery showed that the ED process had better performance than other processes without significant fouling effect as a feasible method to recover ionic liquids from hydrolysate.

Graphical abstractThe figure shows the schematic diagram for an ionic liquid recovery using the electrodialysis system from the pretreated hydrolysate of lignocellulosic biomass.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide