Hydrothermal treatment of microcrystalline cellulose under mild conditions: characterization of solid and liquid-phase products

Microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) particles were subjected to hydrothermal treatment using an autoclave with temperatures ranging from 200 to 250 °C and reaction times ranging from 20 to 100 min. The structure and chemical composition of the reacted solid phase was analyzed by X-ray diffraction, thermo-gravimetric analysis, FTIR spectroscopy and ¹³C-NMR spectroscopy. The relative composition of the water-soluble products was determined by one-dimensional ¹H-NMR and two-dimensional homo and hetero-nuclear NMR spectroscopy. Within the experimental temperature and treatment time ranges, the crystallinity of the reacted solid phase was found to be mostly dependent on the treatment temperature while the aqueous solution was found to change with both temperature and treatment time. At the maximum temperature employed in this study (250 °C), the solid products are similar to amorphous oxidized carbon with glucose as the main water-soluble product. At lower temperatures the particles are unconverted MCC and the liquid products are primarily levulinic acid, formic acid and acetic acid with smaller quantities of 5-hydroxymethyl-furfural and glucose. Heterogeneous and liquid phase reaction-schemes are proposed to explain the observed solid and water-soluble products as a function of temperature and treatment time.