The chemical catalytic
conversion of hemicellulose to lactic acid has been reported previously,
and the chemical composition of the initial reaction liquor is shown
in Table 1.4 (link) The activated carbon used was provided from Adamas
(Shanghai, China), the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface
area, pore volume, and pore size of which were 1732 m2 g–1, 1.16 cm3 g–1, and 26.7
Å, respectively. Lactic acid standard solution was derived from
commercial lactic acid (95%, Enamine) and then diluted with deionized
water. Trioctylamine (TOA, 98%) and octanol (99%) were purchased from
TCI (Shanghai, China). Analytical-grade sulfuric acid, sodium hydroxide,
sodium chloride, and tetrahydrofuran (THF) were obtained from Kelong
Chemical Reagent (Chengdu, Sichuan, China). All of the reagents and
solvents were used directly from commercial sources without further
purification.