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Bromide-Based Ionic Liquid Treatment of Hardwood Organosolv Lignin Yielded a More Reactive Biobased Polyol

  • Maryam Arefmanesh
  • , Thu V. Vuong
  • , Justin K. Mobley
  • , Mona Alinejad
  • , Emma R. Master
  • , Mojgan Nejad*
  • *Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

22 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Ionic liquid (IL) treatment of lignin is a promising strategy to producing nonpetroleum-based polyols for diverse polyurethane (PU) applications. Herein, IL 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium ([BMIM]Br) was employed to treat organosolv hardwood (OS-HW) and softwood (OS-SW) lignins, as well as kraft softwood (Kr-SW) lignin. Phosphorus nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (31P NMR) and gel permeation chromatography (GPC) analyses revealed the highest impacts of [BMIM]Br treatment on OS-HW lignin, where [BMIM]Br-treated OS-HW lignin showed 40% increase in hydroxyl content and 20% decrease in molecular weight. By contrast, compositional changes to OS-SW and Kr-SW after [BMIM]Br treatment were not detected. [BMIM]Br treatment of OS-HW lignin increased its reactivity with isocyanate by 42%, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis of [BMIM]Br-treated OS-HW lignin after washing confirmed the potential to recover the IL. Together, these results demonstrate the efficacy of IL treatment in improving the applicability of certain lignins as polyol alternatives.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)18740-18747
Number of pages8
JournalIndustrial and Engineering Chemistry Research
Volume59
Issue number42
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 21 Oct 2020
MoE publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

Funding

This work was supported by the Government of Ontario for the project “Clean Manufacturing and Nano-engineering of Sustainable Materials” (ORF-RE-07-041). This work was supported by the Government of Ontario for the project “Clean Manufacturing and Nano-engineering of Sustainable Materials” (ORF-RE-07–041).

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