Enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose materials treated with ionic liquid [BMIM] Cl

A new cellulose solvent ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ([BMIM]Cl) was used to treat wheat straw and steam-exploded wheat straw (SEWS) in order to improve the enzymatic hydrolysis rates, while the water was used as the control. The enzymatic hydrolysis results showed that the hydrolysis rates of materials treated with [BMIM]Cl were improved. The hydrolysis rate of treated wheat straw could reach 70.37% and the SEWS could be completely hydrolyzed, while hydrolysis rates of the wheat straw and SEWS treated with water were 42.78% and 68.78% under the same conditions, respectively. The FTIR analysis and polymerization degree measurement indicated that the hydrolysis rates improvement was attributed to the decrease of the polymerization degrees of cellulose and hemicellulose, the absolute crystallinity degree of cellulose and the increase of its reaction accessibility.