Thermodynamics Research Center / ThermoML | Journal of Chemical and Engineering Data

ABSTRACT

As a substitute of fossil fuels, lignocellulosic biomass is a potential feedstock for the production of energy and value-added chemicals. The present work reports the solubility (solid liquid equilibria, SLE) of disaccharides, namely, d-(+)-cellobiose, sucrose, and maltose monohydrate in two ionic liquids (ILs) by a combined approach using experiments and predictions with the continuum solvation model. The screened ILs, namely, 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium thiocyanate ([EMIM][SCN]) and tris(2-hydroxyethyl)methylammonium methylsulfate [TMA][MeSO4], were then used as solvents to measure the SLE at a temperature range of 302.15 353.15 K. The IL [EMIM][SCN] gave a higher solubility as compared to [TMA][MeSO4] irrespective of the disaccharide. The solubility trend within the disaccharide was similar in both the ILs, and it followed: maltose monohydrate greater than sucrose greater than d-(+)-cellobiose. The interactions were further confirmed from the quantum chemical calculations by investigating the interaction energy and HOMO LUMO energy gap between ILs and disaccharides. The thermodynamic function of dissolution such as dissol.oH gave positive values for all of the systems, thereby indicating an endothermic process. Experimental solubility data were also successfully correlated with the local thermodynamic models such as nonrandom two-liquid (NRTL) and universal quasichemical (UNIQUAC) which gave a deviation of less than 5%.