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Updated: May 22, 2026

Pretreatment of Lignocellulosic Biomass with Low-cost Ionic Liquids
Published on: August 10, 2016
Determining relative rates of cellulose dissolution in ionic liquids through in situ viscosity measurement
Hugo Cruz1, Markus Fanselow, John D Holbrey
1Departament de Química, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193-Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain.
Abstract:
Using in situ viscosity measurement, the rate of cellulose dissolution in a number of ionic liquids has been determined allowing their performance as solvents to be quantitatively assessed. 1-Butyl-3-methylimidazolium ethanoate was shown to dissolve cellulose faster than analogous ionic liquids with chloride or dimethylphosphate anions. Analysis of the data highlights the influence of both anion basicity and relative concentration on the rate of dissolution.
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