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Lignin from oil palm biomass using deep eutectic solvent as carbon fibre precursor

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Abstract

Carbon fibre is cost prohibitive due to fossil-based raw materials and the substantial energy needed for manufacturing. Although lignin-derived oil palm biomass has been synthesised, its fundamental properties render it an unsuitable carbon fibre precursor. This study aimed to obtain lignin-derived oil palm biomass (DES-L) using choline chloride (ChCl) and lactic acid (LA) at various molar ratios (1:2–1:10) and to evaluate its fundamental properties in relation to its viability as a carbon fibre precursor at different reaction times (3–6 h) and temperatures (130–170 °C). ChCl-based DES produced high DES-L yields (74.94–98.42%) and solubilities (49.42–66.12%), with comparable phenolic hydroxyl group content (1.37–6.53 mmol/g). A higher LA molar ratio provides more active protons, facilitating the proton-catalysed breakdown of lignin-polysaccharide complexes, resulting in higher solubility and yield. The high lignin purity (81.21–89.97%) demonstrates that ChCl-based DES effectively cleaves the lignin-carbohydrate linkages, resulting in low carbohydrate content but high particulate matter (6.46–14.33%) due to cellulose degradation. The inverse correlation between volatile matter (16.25–36.53%) and ash content (0.99–3.00%) was due to the formation of volatile macromolecules from the highly branched polymer structure of lignin. The low carbon content (42.88–56.83%) diminishes the carbonaceous nature of the DES-L. Lignin has a sufficiently high average molecular weight (2221–5980 g/mol) and glass transition temperature (72.62–80.87 °C) as a carbon fibre precursor. Overall, the lignin-derived oil palm biomass obtained in this study using ChCl-based DES demonstrated preliminary feasibility as a carbon fibre precursor.

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Funding

This research has been made possible by the grant provided by the Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia, under the Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS) (FRGS/1/2020/STG05/UNIKL/02/1).

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  1. Universiti Kuala Lumpur Branch Campus Malaysian Institute of Chemical and Bioengineering Technology (UniKL MICET), 78000 Alor Gajah, Melaka, Malaysia

    Afiqah Liana Sazali, Siti Khadijah Amran, Mohd Razealy Anuar, Khairul Faizal Pa’ee & Tau-Len Kelly Yong

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Conceptualization: Tau-Len Kelly Yong, Khairul Faizal Pa’ee; Methodology: Afiqah Liana Sazali, Siti Khadijah Amran, Tau-Len Kelly Yong; Formal analysis and investigation: Afiqah Liana Sazali, Siti Khadijah Amran; Writing - original draft preparation: Afiqah Liana Sazali, Siti Khadijah Amran; Writing - review and editing: Tau-Len Kelly Yong, Mohd Razealy Anuar, Khairul Faizal Pa’ee; Funding acquisition: Tau-Len Kelly Yong; Supervision: Tau-Len Kelly Yong

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Sazali, A.L., Amran, S.K., Anuar, M.R. et al. Lignin from oil palm biomass using deep eutectic solvent as carbon fibre precursor. Biomass Conv. Bioref. (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-023-04624-9

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