Optimization of rice straw pretreatment with 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate by the response surface method

Rice straw (RS) is a promising feedstock for transformation into biofuels and bioproducts due to its high sugar content and worldwide availability. However, a pretreatment step is necessary in order to disrupt the RS complex lignocellulosic matrix. The aim of this work was to study RS pretreatment with the ionic liquid 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate ([Emim][OAc]) to maximize the enzymatic hydrolysis yield. For this purpose, a response surface method (RSM) based on a central composite design (CCD) was used, with temperature (53-137 degrees C), time (0.3-6.2 h), and solid loading (3.3-11.7% dry weight) as process variables. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) results suggested that temperature was the most significant factor affecting the fermentable sugar yield of [Emim][OAc]-pretreated RS samples. The selected conditions for this pretreatment were 120 degrees C, 5 h, and 5% (w/w), obtaining 29.8 g/L of potentially fermentable sugars. In these conditions, maximum delignification was achieved (64.9%) as well as maximum reduction of the crystallinity index (62.2%), as determined by X-ray diffraction analysis. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis were used to confirm the RS amorphous structure after the pretreatment with [Emim][OAc] and showed that it had a more disordered and accessible structure.