Lignocellulosic biomass is an alternative raw material for the production of biofuels. The conversion of biomass to biofuels begins with pretreatment to produce amorphous cellulose which can be hydrolysed to sugars. The use of ionic liquids has been described as a new potentially viable development in this area. Nevertheless, phase equilibria with biomass-derived compounds and also sugars, is still lacking in the literature. To overcome the lack of experimental data on phase equilibria of biomass carbohydrates in ionic liquids, the solubility of fructose, sucrose and lactose in ionic liquids was measured within a temperature range from 280 K to 390 K. Solubility data were successfully correlated using NRTL and UNIQUAC thermodynamic models. In this work, the possibility of extracting carbohydrates from ionic liquids using ethanol has also been evaluated. Results indicate that ethanol could be used as an antisolvent to separate sugars from ionic liquids.

An environmentally friendly method for the extraction of cellulose from miscanthus using 1,3-dimethyl-imidazolium methyl phosphonate (DMIMMPh) ionic liquid is described. The parameters affecting the extraction process are temperature and time. Extraction results were evaluated using a Box–Behnken Design. The pretreatment of miscanthus with ionic liquids resulted in the regeneration of amorphous, porous cellulose almost free of lignin, which is suitable for enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation processes. The regenerated cellulose can be hydrolyzed efficiently into glucose using cellulase enzyme with glucose hydrolysis efficiency exceeding 93%. The hydrolysate is converted into ethanol with fermentation using Saccharomyces cerevisaie yeast with an ethanol conversion rate reaching up to 85%. A successful ethanol production was obtained with an overall ethanol yield reaching up to 148 g ethanol kg⁻¹ miscanthus. This indicates the high performance of DMIMMPh ionic liquid in converting biomass feedstocks into ethanol.

Environmental pollution by lead (Pb2+) and zinc (Zn2+) ions has become an important issue due to its harmful effects on human health and environment. This work aims to evaluate the application of surface modified Egyptian bentonite mineral by acid activation using H2SO4 and thermal treatment as...