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Updated: Sep 15, 2026

Pretreatment of Lignocellulosic Biomass with Low-cost Ionic Liquids
Published on: August 10, 2016
Reductive catalytic fractionation as a novel pretreatment/lignin-first approach for lignocellulosic biomass
Meenu Jindal1, Priyanka Uniyal2, Bhaksar Thallada1
1Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Sector 19, Kamla Nehru Nagar, Ghaziabad, 201002, Uttar Pradesh, India; Material Resource Efficiency Division, CSIR - Indian Institute of Petroleum, Dehradun-248005, Uttarakhand, India.
Abstract:
Presently, the use of lignocellulosic biomass is mainly focused on creating pulp/paper, energy, sugars and bioethanol from the holocellulose component, leaving behind lignin to be discarded or burned as waste despite of its highest aromatic carbon and energy content (22-29 KJ/g). During the pulping process, lignin undergoes significant structural changes to yield technical lignin. For a circular bioeconomy, there is an urgent need to enhance the use of native lignin for generating more valuable products. Over the last few years, a new method called 'lignin-first', or 'reductive catalytic fractionation' (RCF), has been devised to achieve selective phenolic monomers under mild reaction conditions. This involves deconstructing lignin before capitalizing on carbohydrates. The objective of this study is to record the recent developments of the 'lignin-first' process. This review also underlines the contribution of RCF biorefinery towards achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs) and concludes with an overview of challenges and upcoming opportunities.
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