One-step conversion of corn stalk to glucose and furfural in molten salt hydrate/organic solvent biphasic system.

[Display omitted] • LiBr·3H 2 O/DCM treatment was evaluated for whole biomass fractionation and conversion. • 58.9% glucose and 72.5% furfural yielded in LiBr·3H 2 O/DCM system by one-step. • Residual lignin showed low molecular weights with high purity. • Morphological and topochemical changes of corn stalk were investigated. An effective approach for glucose and furfural production by converting cellulose and hemicelluloses from corn stalk in a biphasic system of molten salt hydrate (MSH) and organic solvent using H 2 SO 4 as catalyst was reported. Results showed that the system with LiBr·3H 2 O and dichloromethane (DCM) had excellent performance in cellulose and hemicelluloses conversion. Under the optimal reaction conditions (corn stalk:LiBr·3H 2 O:DCM ratio = 0.35:10:20 g/mL/mL, 0.05 mol/L H 2 SO 4 , 120 °C, 90 min), 58.9% glucose and 72.5% furfural were yielded. Meanwhile, lignin was obviously depolymerized by the cleavage of β -O-4′ linkages and fractionated with high purity and low molecular weight for potential coproducts. Fluorescence microscopy and confocal Raman microscope displayed that the LiBr·3H 2 O/DCM treatment caused decreasing intensities in carbohydrate and lignin, suggesting the degradation of the main components of biomass. This research provided a promising biorefinery technology for the comprehensive utilization of corn stalk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]