| abstract |
A system and method for the treatment of biomass comprising mixing a biomass with an ionic liquid (IL) to swell the biomass and electromagnetic (EM) heating, preferably radiofrequency (RF) heating or infrared (IR) heating, said biomass. Additionally, a method of acidolysis of biomass comprising mixing biomass in an ionic liquid (IL) to swell the biomass; adding an acid, to lower the pH of the biomass below pH 7; applying radio frequency (RF) heating or infrared (IR) heating to the biomass to heat to a target temperature range; applying ultrasonic heating, electromagnetic (EM) heating, convective heating, conductive heating, or combinations thereof, to the biomass to maintain the biomass at a target temperature range; washing the treated biomass; and recovering sugars and release lignin. |