The role of 1-methylimidazole as a co-solvent for cellulose in imidazolium based IL solutions

Other conference contribution, 2012

Dissolution of cellulose in ionic liquids (IL) can be facilitated and the viscosity of the resulting solutions can be reduced if a co-solvent is introduced. In this study the molecular solvent N-methylimidazole (MIM) was used as a dispersing agent and co-solvent for dissolution of cellulose in the ionic liquid 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate (EMIMAc). It turned out that only a small amount of EMIMAc was needed to dissolve the cellulose, corresponding to an IL to AGU ratio of around 1.5 for 10 % (w/w) cellulose solutions. At the same time, viscosity of the solutions was significantly reduced as a consequence of increasing relative amount of co-solvent, resulting in an optimal solvent to co-solvent ratio for each cellulose concentration.