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Solubilization of Biomass Components with Ionic Liquids Toward Biomass Energy Conversions

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Production of Biofuels and Chemicals with Ionic Liquids

Part of the book series: Biofuels and Biorefineries ((BIOBIO,volume 1))

Abstract

Ionic liquids (ILs) are collecting keen interest as novel solvents for plant biomass, especially for cellulose. ILs have several unique properties and they dissolve cellulose under milder condition than existing procedures. Here, we give an outline of the development of biomass dissolving ILs together with their physico-chemical properties. Dissolution and/or extraction of not only cellulose but also lignin with ILs are overviewed. The extracted biomass is expected to be converted into other energies. For this purpose, energy-saving biomass treatment is inevitable, and ILs are one of the most potential media for this. This chapter will deliver further ideas on the design of ILs for cellulose dissolution or plant biomass treatment in the near future.

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Acknowledgement

Our research results mentioned here were obtained under the support of a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (No. 21225007). It was also partly supported by Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) through the CREST program.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biotechnology, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, 2-24-16 Naka-cho, Koganei, Tokyo, 184-8588, Japan

    Mitsuru Abe & Hiroyuki Ohno

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  1. Mitsuru Abe
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  2. Hiroyuki Ohno
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Correspondence to Hiroyuki Ohno .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Biomass Group, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, People's Republic of China

    Zhen Fang

  2. Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Research Center of Supercritical Fluid Technology, Tohoku University, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Japan

    Richard L. Smith, Jr.

  3. College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nankai University, Tianjin, People's Republic of China

    Xinhua Qi

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Abe, M., Ohno, H. (2014). Solubilization of Biomass Components with Ionic Liquids Toward Biomass Energy Conversions. In: Fang, Z., Smith, Jr., R., Qi, X. (eds) Production of Biofuels and Chemicals with Ionic Liquids. Biofuels and Biorefineries, vol 1. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7711-8_2

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