Screening of Ionic Liquids for Pretreatment of Taiwan Grass in Q-Tube Minireactors for Improving Bioethanol Production

In this study, a series of ionic liquids including conventional, protic and Brønsted acidic-type ionic liquids were evaluated as media for the pretreatment of Taiwan grass. The pretreatments were carried out in parallel format, for the first time, in a novel glass reactor known as Q-tube^®. Based on the results, the Q-tube^® was very efficient for the pretreatment of our lignocellulosic materials in comparison with the conventional equipment (round bottom flask). Pretreatments were completed in one hour with high yield of reducing and total sugars after enzymatic hydrolysis. Some protic and Brønsted acidic ionic liquids can depolymerize partially the cellulosic material in one step and after enzymatic hydrolysis the content of reducing sugars is up to 35 times higher in comparison with the material without pretreatment.