Salt catalyzed heterogeneous dilute acid hydrolysis of the difficultly accessible portion of cellulose: Effect of nature of metal co‐ion

The effect of nature of metal co‐ion on the rate of hydrolysis, Vc, of the difficulty accessible portion of cellulose was investigated for Li+, Na+, K+, and Ca2+. For the univalent ions Vc decreases exponentially with an increase in ionic radius for a given concentration of co‐ion. For Ca2+, Vc is lower than would be predicted on the basis of ionic radius. This is attributed to the increased charge and/or increased degree of hydration. For the univalent ions the data presented suggest Vc increases sharply with concentration up to 0.25M, while for Ca2+, Vc increases more gradually up to 2.25M, before Vc begins to drop.