Dissolution of cellulose in imidazolium-based double salt ionic liquids

The dissolution of cellulose in double salt ionic liquids (DSILs) was studied in detail and compared with the dissolution in individual constituent ionic liquids (ILs). The DSILs, [C4mim](CH3CO2)xCl1-x (x is the mole fraction of the single component ILs), were synthesized using acetate and chloride salts of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium. These DSILs were then used for the investigation of the solubility of cellulose in the whole mole fraction range. Commercial cellulose (CC) powder, kraft pulp (KP), and prehydrolysis kraft pulp (PHKP) of jute were chosen as cellulose sources. The solubility of cellulose increased with an increasing temperature for [C4mim](CH3CO2)0.6Cl0.4 and with increasing amount of [C4mim]Cl in DSILs. The maximum solubility of CC powder was 32.8 wt% in [C4mim](CH3CO2)0.6Cl0.4 at 100 °C, while for KP and PHKP, solubilities were 30.1 and 30.5 wt% respectively under the identical condition. Cellulose could be regenerated from the DSILs using water as an antisolvent. Structure, morphology, and thermal stability of the regenerated cellulosic materials were analyzed. Cellulose could be recycled >99 % without a discernible change in structure. This work demonstrates that DSILs display enhanced solubility over ILs system and have potential as a chemical processing methodology.