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Updated: Feb 3, 2026

Pretreatment of Lignocellulosic Biomass with Low-cost Ionic Liquids
Published on: August 10, 2016
Treatment of Coffee Husk with Ammonium-Based Ionic Liquids: Lignin Extraction, Degradation, and Characterization
Leta Deressa Tolesa1, Bhupender S Gupta1, Ming-Jer Lee1
1Department of Chemical Engineering, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, 43 Keelung Road, Section 4, Taipei 106-07, Taiwan.
Abstract:
Four ammonium-based ionic liquids were synthesized for the selective extraction and degradation of lignin from coffee husk. The extracted lignin samples were characterized by Fourier transform infrared, gel permeation chromatography, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, UV-vis, 1H and 13C NMR, heteronuclear single-quantum coherence-NMR, thermogravimetric analysis, X-ray diffraction, and field emission scanning electron microscopy analyses. The analyzed results confirmed that these ionic liquids are able to effectively extract and decompose the lignin to smaller molecules from the biomass. Experimental results show that a significantly high yield, 71.2% of the original lignin, has been achieved. This processing method is an efficient, economical, and environmentally friendly green route for producing high-added-value lignin from wasted coffee husk.
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