Water addition enhanced thermal stability of alkylimidazolium acetate in Ionosolv treatment of lignin

Water addition was found to enhance the thermal stability of alkylimidazolium–acetate ionic liquids (ILs). Especially in the case of high water content (30–50 wt%), few decomposition products can be observed in the 1H NMR spectra even after treatment for 24 h at 150 °C. On the basis of this finding, lignin treatment of water and acetate IL mixtures (50–90 wt% IL content) were investigated at 150 °C. The addition of water, as opposed to pure IL...