The Effect of Decomposition Time on Cellulose Degradation in Ionic Liquid/Acid with Pressurized CO2

Cellulose material is the most abundant carbohydrate that has a simple polymer structure, but it forms ofcrystalline micro-fibrils lead it insoluble in various solvent and highly resistant for hydrolysis process. Thedegradation of cellulose into glucose will increase the raw material for production of ethanol, isopropanol orbutanol. The conversion into oligomer can be applied for pharmaceutical, food additives, etc. There are manytechnologies for conversion of cellulose such as degradation with ionic liquids, acid, enzymatic/fermentation,and hydrothermal. In this work, we studied cellulose decomposition by hydrothermal process, and a combinationwith ionic liquids. We used NaCl as a simple ionic liquid, oxalic acid as a catalyst, and CO2 as pressurizing gasin order to enhance the degradability of cellulose in water. Cellulose and NaCl/oxalic acid solution (20 gr L-1)was conducted under 70 bar of subcritical CO2 in 125ºC and various decomposition times (1 to 5 h). Afterdecomposition time was achieved, the sample was separated between liquid and solid. For liquid product wereanalyzed by Dinitrosalicylic acid method (DNS method) using spectrophotometry UV-Vis and LiquidChromatography – Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS). And solid products were analyzed by using X-Ray Diffraction(XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The result shows that the glucose concentrations was increasewith an increasing decomposition time and reach a maximum at 4 hour. SEM and XRD showed the changes inthe morphology and the structure of cellulose.