Monash Ionic Liquids Group

Lignocellulosic biomass is a widely available and renewable resource that is likely to become an economically viable source of starting materials for chemical and fuel production, especially with the price of petroleum set to increase as supplies are diminished.  Biopolymers such as cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin may be converted to useful products, either by direct functionalisation of the polymers or depolymerisation to monomers, followed by microbial or chemical conversion to useful chemicals.  Major barriers to the effective conversion of biomass currently include the high crystallinity of cellulose, high reactivity of carbohydrates and lignin, insolubility of cellulose in conventional solvents, as well as heterogeneity in the native lignocellulosic materials and in lignin itself. 

Ionic liquids have been studied for their special solvent properties in a wide range of processes, including reactions involving carbohydrates such as cellulose and glucose.  The aim of this project is to develop processes for fractionating lignocellulose using ionic liquids at atmospheric pressure to produce cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, or useful derivatives of the three components.  Each of the resultant fractions has the potential to be converted into renewable chemical sources or fuels.  The process of extracting lignin occurs at atmospheric pressure, which is significant as most high-temperature aqueous processes such as the kraft process require pressurised equipment.  In order to design the process, it is necessary to develop a chemical understanding of the interrelationships between the structure, properties and function of ionic liquids in the fractionation processes.  Quantification of lignin removal, reaction rate and recoverability of ionic liquid will be used to determine the efficiency of using ionic liquids for fractionation.  The specific objectives for the project are:

1. to synthesise and characterise selected ionic liquids for the purpose of biomass  fractionation
2. to test these ionic liquids in biomass fractionation.

Sponsors

Publications

1. S. S. Y. Tan, D. R. MacFarlane, J. Upfal, L. A. Edye, W. O. S. Doherty, A. F. Patti, J. M. Pringle and J. L. Scott, Green Chem., 2009, 11, 339-345.
2. S. S. Y. Tan and D. R. MacFarlane, Top. Curr. Chem., 2009, in press.

Profile

2005 – present: PhD, School of Chemistry, Monash University

2006 – 2009: Sugar Research & Innovation, Queensland University of Technology

2003 – 2006: Sugar Research Institute

B.E. (Chem), Hons 1998, University of Queensland