An effective and friendly method was developed for the production of reducing sugars (RS) from the hydrolysis of cellulose over the solid catalyst of Ca-montmorillonite (Mt) grafted by non-acidic ionic liquid (Mt-IL) in water. The effect of mass ratio, water dosage, reaction temperature, and time were investigated in a batch reactor. Raw Mt showed only a 7.9% total reducing sugars (TRS) yield for the catalytic hydrolysis of cellulose in water. As the Mt was grafted by -SO3H and IL, the TRS yield greatly increased under the same reaction conditions. The highest TRS yield of 35.7% was obtained on the catalyst of Mt grafted by non-acidic IL at 200 °C with the mass ratio of catalyst to cellulose of 0.2 for 120 min. The high TRS yield for Mt-IL should be attributed to the synergistic effect of the dissolution of cellulose by IL and the exposed metal ions on the layer with water. Although the yield of TRS on Mt-IL decreased gradually with recycling runs, the decrease after the first run was not very serious compared to the fresh catalyst. This work provides a promising strategy for efficient cellulose hydrolysis into fine chemicals by Mt with non-acidic IL.
Keywords: cellulose; hydrolysis; ionic liquid; montmorillonite; reducing sugars.