Authors
Dries Bleus, Nahal Ghanemnia, Wouter Marchal, Dries Vandamme
Published in
ChemSusChem. Volume 19. Issue 17. Pages e70995. Sep 14, 2026.
Abstract
To maximize the recovery of multiple added-value products from biomass waste streams, optimal valorization should follow a cascade process integrating extraction and conversion steps. In this context, natural deep eutectic solvents (NADES) can be employed as green solvents to significantly expand the possible valorization routes. In this study, brewer's spent grain (BSG) was first used for antioxidant (polyphenolic compound) extraction with NADES, whereupon the remaining biomass was converted into activated carbons (ACs). These adsorbents were characterized in-depth, and their performance for subsequent NADES clean-up is described for the first time as a proof-of-concept. Extraction with NADES caused a significant reduction in AC yield, due to associated degradation effects on structural elements (lignin, cellulose, and hemicellulose) within the biomass. The largest effect (only 3% AC yield for choline chloride:malic acid) was correlated to the solvent acidity, and not inherent to the NADES hydrogen bond interactions. In addition, the acidic pretreatment caused significantly lower surface area and less micropore development, which negatively impacted the adsorption properties. Nonetheless, NADES pretreatments created ACs that outperform traditional woody-biomass-derived commercial AC reference materials (adsorption qe of 203.9 ± 12.5, 257.3 ± 6.8, and 204.9 ± 2.8 mg/g, respectively, from choline chloride:glycerol NADES stock solution).
PMID:
42637690
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 25 Aug 2026.
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