Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Waste and Biomass Valorization (2021) 12:199–209 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12649-020-00997-4 ORIGINAL PAPER Valorization of Sugarcane Bagasse to a Platform Chemical (Levulinic Acid) Catalysed by 1‑Butyl‑2,3‑dimethylimidazolium Tetrafuoroborate ([BMMim][BF 4 ]) Lethiwe D. Mthembu 1  · David Lokhat 2  · Nirmala Deenadayalu 1 Received: 19 October 2019 / Accepted: 2 March 2020 / Published online: 6 March 2020 © Springer Nature B.V. 2020 Abstract The Biofne process is the currently used method for the industrial production of levulinic acid (LA) from biomass. In this process sulfuric acid is used to catalyze the reaction, the former is a corrosive and toxic catalyst. In this work, an environ- mental friendly catalyst: 1-butyl-2,3-dimethylimidazolium tetrafuoroborate ([BMMim][BF 4 ]) was used to optimize the LA production from depithed sugarcane bagasse (DSB). The Box–Behnken design (response surface methodology) was used to design the set of experiments with three variables, namely, time, temperature and catalyst loading. The optimum condition for water as a solvent was 100 °C, 7 h and 4 g of a catalyst which yielded a maximum amount of 44.8% of LA from DSB. When diferent solvents were investigated at the optimum condition for LA production, methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK) was the best solvent (54.2%). This study also showed that [BMMim][BF 4 ] is capable of theoretically producing 62.1% of LA. The reusability study showed that [BMMim][BF 4 ] can be used for up to four times without losing it activity. Graphical Abstract Keywords Ionic liquids · Sugarcane bagasse · Levulinic acid · Value added products · Optimization Statement of Novelty Sugarcane bagasse is a waste that is either burnt in sugar mills to produce power or used for paper production. A large quantity of the waste biomass is discarded. Due to the * Lethiwe D. Mthembu 21451030@dut4life.ac.za 1 Department of Chemistry, Durban University of Technology, Steve Biko Road, Berea, Durban 4001, South Africa 2 Department of Chemical Engineering, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 4041, South Africa