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Green wood pulping processes with high pulp yield and lignin recovery yield by deep eutectic solvent and its aqueous solutions

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Abstract

The development of innovative processes for eco-friendly, yet efficient, wood pulping is required to achieve higher sustainability than traditional processes. In this study, the potential use of deep eutectic solvent (DES) and its aqueous solutions as delignification medium for eucalyptus pulping is evaluated. The effects of temperature and water content in the DES on the pulping process were investigated. Additionally, traditional kraft pulping was performed as a reference. The integration of water into DES could facilitate delignification and preserve carbohydrates, and the optimal result of choline chloride-lactic acid (ChCl-LA) aqueous solution with 20 vol% water pulping process achieved the highest pulp yield (60.11 ± 0.29%) with a lignin removal of 87.59 ± 0.78% at 140 °C. Further analysis revealed that the obtained pulp with a degree of polymerization of 1498 and a crystallinity of 69.79% exhibited better physical properties than kraft pulp. Meanwhile, 80.11 ± 0.80% of the initial lignin in wood with lower condensation degrees, more homogeneous molecular weight distribution, and higher purity than kraft lignin was recovered by sample precipitation with water. This study indicates that ChCl-LA aqueous solution (20 vol% water) is the potential wood pulping system and provides a great reference for the sustainable development of the pulp and paper industry.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the School of Light Industry Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology.

Funding

This work was supported by the Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangdong Province (2021A1515010645, 2019A0103008).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Pulp and Paper Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510640, Guangdong, China

    Jianxiang Cui, Rui Chen, Lirong Lei & Yi Hou

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  1. Jianxiang Cui
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  2. Rui Chen
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Contributions

Jianxiang Cui: conceptualization, methodology, supervision, validation, formal analysis, data curation, writing—original draft. Rui Chen: validation, formal analysis, data curation, supervision. Lirong Lei: writing—review and editing, supervision, funding acquisition. Yi Hou: writing—review and editing, supervision, funding acquisition.

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Correspondence to Yi Hou.

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Highlights

• Deep eutectic solvent and its aqueous solutions exhibited excellent potential in wood pulping.

• Integration of water (20 vol%) into DES enabled the highest lignin removal of 87.59 ± 0.78%.

• The pulp composed of 5.88 ± 0.29% lignin content was produced under mild conditions.

• The 80.11 ± 0.80% of the initial lignin in wood was recovered with up to 85.96 ± 0.92% purity.

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Cui, J., Chen, R., Lei, L. et al. Green wood pulping processes with high pulp yield and lignin recovery yield by deep eutectic solvent and its aqueous solutions. Biomass Conv. Bioref. (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-022-03498-7

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