Arthur “Art” Ragauskas

Green Chemistry journal selected a publication authored by Arthur Ragauskas, interim head of UT’s chemical and biomolecular engineering department and the UT-ORNL Governor’s Chair for Biorefining, as one of their hottest articles.

The article, “Novel biphasic DES/GVL solvent for effective biomass fractionation and valorization,” was initially published in the August 2023 issue of Green Chemistry. Now it has been chosen by the journal’s editors and referees to be part of the 2023 Green Chemistry Hot Articles, an online collection of the most cutting-edge work published in the journal each year.

In the article, Ragauskas’ team demonstrated a novel pretreatment for plant biomass that addresses one of the most urgent challenges in biorefining—economically separating lignin from other biomass with only minimal structural changes. This allows the lignin to be used in green materials, green diesel, and jet fuel while relinquishing a viable stream of plant polysaccharides that can also be used for fuels.

Notable co-authors and contributors on the article were Chen Huang, who was a visiting scholar in Ragauskas’ lab, now developing his own research program at Chinese Academy of Forestry, and key researcher on the project; Chang Geun Yoo, assistant professor at the State University of New York; and Xianzhi Meng, a research scientist in Ragauskas’ lab.

Contact

Kathy Williams, (865-974-8615, williamk@utk.edu)