Pineapple crown delignification using low-cost ionic liquid based on ethanolamine and organic acids

Enhancing enzymatic conversion of castor stalk through dual-functional ethanolamine pretreatment

Castor stalk from hemp plants is an attractive lignocellulosic feedstock for biomass refining valorization due to its similar chemical composition to hardwoods. In this study, the castor stalk fibers were pretreated with efficient dual-functional ethanolamine to achieve delignification and swelling of the cellulosic fibers, followed by cellulase enzymatic digestion for biomass conversion. Experimental results showed that ethanolamine pretreatment at 160 °C for 1 h effectively removed 69.20 % of lignin and 43.18 % of hemicellulose. In addition to efficient delignification and removal of hemicellulose, the study also revealed that supramolecular structure of cellulose was another major factor affecting enzymatic hydrolysis performance. The lowered crystallinity (60-70 %) and swelled crystal sizes (2.95-3.04 nm) promoted enzymatic hydrolysis efficiency during the heterogeneous reaction process. Under optimal conditions (160 °C, 1 h; enzyme loading: 15 FPU/g substrate), promoted yields of 100 % glucose and over 90 % xylose were achieved, which were significantly higher than those obtained from untreated castor stalk. These findings highlighted the effectiveness of the dual-functional ethanolamine pretreatment strategy for efficient bioconversion of lignocellulosic feedstocks. Overall, this study provides valuable insights into the development of new strategies for the efficient utilization of biomass resources, which is essential for the sustainable development of our society.

Biotechnological innovations in nanocellulose production from waste biomass with a focus on pineapple waste

New materials' synthesis and utilization have shown many critical challenges in healthcare and other industrial sectors as most of these materials are directly or indirectly developed from fossil fuel resources. Environmental regulations and sustainability concepts have promoted the use of natural compounds with unique structures and properties that can be biodegradable, biocompatible, and eco-friendly. In this context, nanocellulose (NC) utility in different sectors and industries is reported due to their unique properties including biocompatibility and antimicrobial characteristics. The bacterial nanocellulose (BNC)-based materials have been synthesized by bacterial cells and extracted from plant waste materials including pineapple plant waste biomass. These materials have been utilized in the form of nanofibers and nanocrystals. These materials are found to have excellent surface properties, low density, and good transparency, and are rich in hydroxyl groups for their modifications to other useful products. These materials are well utilized in different sectors including biomedical or health care centres, nanocomposite materials, supercapacitors, and polymer matrix production. This review explores different approaches for NC production from pineapple waste residues using biotechnological interventions, approaches for their modification, and wider applications in different sectors. Recent technological developments in NC production by enzymatic treatment are critically discussed. The utilization of pineapple waste-derived NC from a bioeconomic perspective is summarized in the paper. The chemical composition and properties of nanocellulose extracted from pineapple waste may have unique characteristics compared to other sources. Pineapple waste for nanocellulose production aligns with the principles of sustainability, waste reduction, and innovation, making it a promising and novel approach in the field of nanocellulose materials.

Revolutionizing lignocellulosic biomass: A review of harnessing the power of ionic liquids for sustainable utilization and extraction

The potential for the transformation of lignocellulosic biomass into valuable commodities is rapidly growing through an environmentally sustainable approach to harness its abundance, cost-effectiveness, biodegradability, and environmentally friendly nature. Ionic liquids (ILs) have received considerable and widespread attention as a promising solution for efficiently dissolving lignocellulosic biomass. The fact that ILs can act as solvents and reagents contributes to their widespread recognition. In particular, ILs are desirable because they are inert, non-toxic, non-flammable, miscible in water, recyclable, thermally and chemically stable, and have low melting points and outstanding ionic conductivity. With these characteristics, ILs can serve as a reliable replacement for traditional biomass conversion methods in various applications. Thus, this comprehensive analysis explores the conversion of lignocellulosic biomass using ILs, focusing on main components such as cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. In addition, the effect of multiple parameters on the separation of lignocellulosic biomass using ILs is discussed to emphasize their potential to produce high-value products from this abundant and renewable resource. This work contributes to the advancement of green technologies, offering a promising avenue for the future of biomass conversion and sustainable resource management.

Energy Applications of Ionic Liquids: Recent Developments and Future Prospects

Ionic liquids (ILs) consisting entirely of ions exhibit many fascinating and tunable properties, making them promising functional materials for a large number of energy-related applications. For example, ILs have been employed as electrolytes for electrochemical energy storage and conversion, as heat transfer fluids and phase-change materials for thermal energy transfer and storage, as solvents and/or catalysts for CO2 capture, CO2 conversion, biomass treatment and biofuel extraction, and as high-energy propellants for aerospace applications. This paper provides an extensive overview on the various energy applications of ILs and offers some thinking and viewpoints on the current challenges and emerging opportunities in each area. The basic fundamentals (structures and properties) of ILs are first introduced. Then, motivations and successful applications of ILs in the energy field are concisely outlined. Later, a detailed review of recent representative works in each area is provided. For each application, the role of ILs and their associated benefits are elaborated. Research trends and insights into the selection of ILs to achieve improved performance are analyzed as well. Challenges and future opportunities are pointed out before the paper is concluded.

An eco-friendly novel approach for bioconversion of Saccharum spontaneum biomass to biofuel-ethanol under consolidated bioprocess

Quest for renewable/eco-friendly energy sources has received immense focus in recent years. Current study involved consolidated bioprocessing of Saccharum spontaneum biomass (SSB) for biofuel-ethanol generation in a 'one pot consolidated bioprocess' (OPCB). SSB was pretreated with protic ionic liquid, triethylamine-bisulfate ([TEA][HSO₄]), saccharified in-situ with cellulase/xylanase enzymes, and the released sugars were fermented to ethanol. Pretreatment and saccharification processes were optimized under OPCB to achieve 2.70-fold increased sugar yield i.e. from 196.56 to 531.00 mg/g biomass. Fermentation of sugars yielded ethanol at 209.6 mg/g biomass at a bioconversion efficiency of 72.56 %. The pretreated SSB was comprehensively examined by/for XRD, NMR, SEM, FT-IR, and properties such as water retention capacity, surface area and cellulase adsorption ability to elucidate functional mechanisms of [TEA][HSO₄] pretreatment.

Deep Eutectic Solvents: Alternative Solvents for Biomass-Based Waste Valorization

Innovative technologies can transform what are now considered "waste streams" into feedstocks for a range of products. Indeed, the use of biomass as a source of biopolymers and chemicals currently has a consolidated economic dimension, with well-developed and regulated markets, in which the evaluation of the manufacturing processes relies on specific criteria such as purity and yield, and respects defined regulatory parameters for the process safety. In this context, ionic liquids and deep eutectic solvents have been proposed as environmentally friendly solvents for applications related to biomass waste valorization. This mini-review draws attention to some recent advancements in the use of a series of new-solvent technologies, with an emphasis on deep eutectic solvents (DESs) as key players in the development of new processes for biomass waste valorization. This work aims to highlight the role and importance of DESs in the following three strategic areas: chitin recovery from biomass and isolation of valuable chemicals and biofuels from biomass waste streams.

A Review on Natural Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composites (NFRPC) for Sustainable Industrial Applications

The depletion of petroleum-based resources and the adverse environmental problems, such as pollution, have stimulated considerable interest in the development of environmentally sustainable materials, which are composed of natural fiber–reinforced polymer composites. These materials could be tailored for a broad range of sustainable industrial applications with new surface functionalities. However, there are several challenges and drawbacks, such as composites processing production and fiber/matrix adhesion, that need to be addressed and overcome. This review could provide an overview of the technological challenges, processing techniques, characterization, properties, and potential applications of NFRPC for sustainable industrial applications. Interestingly, a roadmap for NFRPC to move into Industry 4.0 was highlighted in this review.

The effect of alkyl chain and electronegative atoms in anion on biological activity of anilinium carboxylate bioactive ionic liquids and computational approaches by DFT functional and molecular docking

The Brønsted acid-base neutralization was executed for synthesis of the anilinium carboxylate ionic liquids (ACILs), and obtained highly viscous liquids with yields about (90-94)%. These ILs were purified by distillation process and used vacuum oven, as well as characterized by FT-IR, UV spectroscopy and 1H-NMR. To evaluate the antimicrobial activity, the well diffusion method was used against eight human pathogenic bacteria, showing inhibition of zone at 13 mm-27 mm, and three fungi with result about 60%. Plus, the DFT functional from material studio 8.0 was used for evaluation of computational screening for estimating the chemical reactivity, HOMO, LUMO and HOMO-LUMO gap, recorded from -7.252 to -8.20 kcal/mol. The IL05 has showed about -6.5 kcal/mol docking score as standard inhibitor, as and higher than starting. Form AMDET properties, it has revealed that they have low toxicity, higher absorption through the biological system and non-carcinogenic. Finally, the electronegative groups, such as F, Cl and Br atoms in anion can show the higher antimicrobial activity and molecular docking score among all others while F atom containing IL05 shows the highest docking score and antimicrobial activity. However, it is concluded that rather than long large alkyl chain of anion, F atom (the highest electronegative atom) containing anion is better for biologically significance ILs.

Bioconversion of Renewable Plant Biomass. Second-Generation Biofuels: Raw Materials, Biomass Pretreatment, Enzymes, Processes, and Cost Analysis

The review discusses various aspects of renewable plant biomass conversion and production of the second-generation biofuels, including the types of plant biomass, its composition and reaction ability in the enzymatic hydrolysis, and various pretreatment methods for increasing the biomass reactivity. Conversion of plant biomass into sugars requires the use of a complex of enzymes, the composition of which should be adapted to the biomass type and the pretreatment method. The efficiency of enzymatic hydrolysis can be increased by optimizing the composition of the enzymatic complex and by increasing the catalytic activity and operational stability of its constituent enzymes. The availability of active enzyme producers also plays an important role. Examples of practical implementation and scaling of processes for the production of second-generation biofuels are presented together with the cost analysis of bioethanol production.

Extraction of lignin and quantitative sugar release from biomass using efficient and cost-effective pyridinium protic ionic liquids

Lignocellulosic biomass is enormously abundant around the globe. It bears huge potential for renewable products as its components can be converted to many useful products via cheaper processes. Recently, the component of biomass that has attracted enormous attention is lignin owing to its several aromatic or phenolic constituents. The utilization of lignin, however, is hindered by its troublesome separation mainly due to the difficult nature of the lignocellulosic biomass. Protic ionic liquids have great potential for extraction of lignin from the lignocellulosic biomass to make it viable for various transformations. In this study, protic ionic liquids comprising a pyridinium cation and a dihydrogen phosphate anion (H₂PO₄⁻) were prepared and used for lignin extraction and subsequent saccharification of the cellulose pulp. The ILs exhibited appreciably high lignin yields (optimum 73%) under mild conditions (100 °C) and shorter time (2 h). Fairly good sugar (glucose) yields (77%) verify effective delignification. The analysis of ILs and biomass was accomplished by H-NMR, FT-IR, SEM, HSQC and GPC.

Lignocellulosic biomass is enormously abundant around the globe. It bears huge potential for renewable products as its components can be converted to many useful products via cheaper processes.

The Role of Ionic Liquids in the Lignin Separation from Lignocellulosic Biomass

Lignin is a natural polymer, one that has an abundant and renewable resource in biomass. Due to a tendency towards the use of biochemicals, the efficient utilization of lignin has gained wide attention. The delignification of lignocellulosic biomass makes its fractions (cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin) susceptible to easier transformation to many different commodities like energy, chemicals, and materials that could be produced using the biorefinery concept. This review gives an overview of the field of lignin separation from lignocellulosic biomass and changes that occur in the biomass during this process, as well as taking a detailed look at the influence of parameters that lead the process of dissolution. According to recent studies, a number of ionic liquids (ILs) have shown a level of potential for industrial scale production in terms of the pretreatment of biomass. ILs are perspective green solvents for pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass. These properties in ILs enable one to disrupt the complex structure of lignocellulose. In addition, the physicochemical properties of aprotic and protic ionic liquids (PILs) are summarized, with those properties making them suitable solvents for lignocellulose pretreatment which, especially, target lignin. The aim of the paper is to focus on the separation of lignin from lignocellulosic biomass, by keeping all components susceptible for biorefinery processes. The discussion includes interaction mechanisms between lignocellulosic biomass subcomponents and ILs to increase the lignin yield. According to our research, certain PILs have potential for the cost reduction of LC biomass pretreatment on the feasible separation of lignin.

New Intensification Strategies for the Direct Conversion of Real Biomass into Platform and Fine Chemicals: What Are the Main Improvable Key Aspects?

Nowadays, the solvothermal conversion of biomass has reached a good level of development, and now it is necessary to improve the process intensification, in order to boost its further growth on the industrial scale. Otherwise, most of these processes would be limited to the pilot scale or, even worse, to exclusive academic investigations, intended as isolated applications for the development of new catalysts. For this purpose, it is necessary to improve the work-up technologies, combining, where possible, reaction/purification unit operations, and enhancing the feedstock/liquid ratio, thus improving the final concentration of the target product and reducing the work-up costs. Furthermore, it becomes decisive to reconsider more critically the choice of biomass, solvent(s), and catalysts, pursuing the biomass fractionation in its components and promoting one-pot cascade conversion routes. Screening and process optimization activities on a laboratory scale must be fast and functional to the flexibility of these processes, exploiting efficient reaction systems such as microwaves and/or ultrasounds, and using multivariate analysis for an integrated evaluation of the data. These upstream choices, which are mainly of the chemist’s responsibility, are fundamental and deeply interconnected with downstream engineering, economic, and legislative aspects, which are decisive for the real development of the process. In this Editorial, all these key issues will be discussed, in particular those aimed at the intensification of solvothermal processes, taking into account some real case studies, already developed on the industrial scale.

An Overview on the Toxicological Properties of Ionic Liquids toward Microorganisms

Ionic liquids (ILs), a class of materials with unique physicochemical properties, have been used extensively in the fields of chemical engineering, biotechnology, material sciences, pharmaceutics, and many others. Because ILs are very polar by nature, they can migrate into the environment with the possibility of inclusion in the food chain and bioaccumulation in living organisms. However, the chemical natures of ILs are not quintessentially biocompatible. Therefore, the practical uses of ILs must be preceded by suitable toxicological assessments. Among different methods, the use of microorganisms to evaluate IL toxicity provides many advantages including short generation time, rapid growth, and environmental and industrial relevance. This article reviews the recent research progress on the toxicological properties of ILs toward microorganisms and highlights the computational prediction of various toxicity models.