Mild one-pot three components fractionation of lignocellulose enhancing by ternary solvents behavior

The sustainable biorefinery concept relies on the isolation and transformation of three primary components in lignocellulose. Herein, a one-pot method for lignocellulose fractionation/conversion system was proposed by a combination of organic solvents called acetone/pentanol/dilute sulphuric acid (DA) (volume ratio=2:3:5). Up to 70.44 % of hemicellulose was recovered from the aqueous phase in the form of xylose, and 87.52 % of cellulose with purity of 90.11 % and 86.43 % of lignin were obtained as solid from the insoluble solid and organic phase, respectively (140 ℃, 40 min, 0.8 % DA). The characterization of the separated cellulose and lignin showed that the crystallinity of cellulose was limited and the native structure of lignin with β-O-4 bonds of 85.88 % was recovered. The effect of acetone on delignification ability of the system was analyzed via density functional theory (DFT), indicating that acetone could improve mass transfer efficiency and promote the migration of lignin to organic phase. This study provides a possibility for efficient fractionation /conversion of the whole components from lignocellulose. • Acetone/pentanol/DA was developed for one-pot fractionation of lignocellulose. • Acetone could improve mass transfer efficiency and help lignin migration. • 86.43 % of lignin with β-O-4 bonds of 85.88 % was obtained. • 87.52 % of cellulose with purity of 90.11 % was obtained as insoluble solid. • 70.44 % and 17.12 % of xylose and xylo-oligosaccharide were recovered, respectively.