Processing of Biomass in Deep Eutectic Solvents

Since the concept was proposed, deep eutectic solvents (DESs) have attracted many interests in the field of biomass treatment, with advantages compared with ionic liquids (ILs) such as their inexpensiveness, environmental friendliness, and biodegradability, as well as their unique polarity property to interact with hydrogen bond donors (HBDs). Due to the high solubility of lignin, DESs are widely used in lignocellulose pretreatment and lignin valorization. In this chapter, we summarized the recent contributions of DESs for the extraction/purification of bio-derived chemicals from biomass and the conversion of biomass/carbohydrates into furanic derivatives such as 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF). In addition, we concluded the application routes of DESs in biomass treatment and discussed how DESs impact the reaction results in a chemical conversion of biomass.