Acidic and alkaline deep eutectic solvents in delignification and nanofibrillation of corn stalk, wheat straw, and rapeseed stem residues

In this work, six different deep eutectic solvent (DES) treatments—five acidic (natural organic acid–choline chloride) and one alkaline (K2CO3–glycerol)—were used and compared in delignification and nanofibrillation of agricultural by-products from wheat straw, corn stalk, and rapeseed stem. The DES treatments were performed at 100 °C for 8 h, at 100 °C for 16 h, and at 80 °C for 24 h. The yield of cellulose and lignin fractions was obtained gravimetrically, and a more detailed composition of fractions was obtained for the 16 h treatment. All the samples were further nanofibrillated, and the properties of nanocelluloses and their nanopapers were measured. Acidic lactic acid–choline chloride and alkaline K2CO3–glycerol DESs resulted in the highest delignification yields (11.8–5.7 wt-%), nanocellulose viscosity (1360–555 Pa s), and crystallinity index (54–38 %), but the strength properties of nanopapers from alkaline DES treatment (170–132 MPa) were better compared to acidic DESs (132–24 MPa). A plausible explanation for this difference may be that the alkaline DES also dissolved waxes and proteins, which can mitigate the adhesion and network formation between the nanofibers. It was also observed that the separated lignin fractions from acidic and alkaline DES treatments had different characteristics as determined by FTIR.