The conversion of greenhouse gas CO2 into novel materials is the most promising approach to solve greenhouse gas issues.

A one-pot hydrothermal conversion of cellulose with CuO as an oxidant was investigated under alkaline conditions. The results showed that a high yield of organic acids, mainly including acetic acid, glycolic acid, lactic acid, and formic acid, was obtained from cellulose. The highest total yield of the four organic acids reached 43.0% at 325 °C for 1 min. CuO can effectively increase the total yield of organic acids, and Cu 2 O and Cu 0 can be produced from the proposed process. A reaction pathway of cellulose conversion into organic acids in the presence of CuO was investigated and proposed. The present study is expected to be a link in the development of a new and green method of both cellulose conversion and CuO smelting.

CO2 can be reduced to organic molecules, such as formic and acetic acids in a yield of approximately 67% with metal sulfides catalysts, using H2S as a reductant and with SxOy2− as oxidative products in a simulated hydrothermal vent system. These results are significant for understanding abiotic organic synthesis from dissolved CO2 in deep sea hydrothermal vents.

in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com).Biomass as a source for chemicals production attracts growing attention due to the decreasing storage of fossil fuels and global warming caused by emission of CO 2 . In this study, conversion of glucose with copper oxide (CuO) was studied under alkaline hydrothermal conditions using a batch reactor and continuous flow reactor. CuO, as an oxidant, greatly improves the yields of lactic acid (LA) and acetic acid from glucose and was reduced into Cu 2 O and Cu. Selective production of LA with the highest yield of 59% and acetic acid with the highest yield of 32% can be achieved by controlling reaction time, temperature, and addition of CuO. A possible mechanism of conversion of glucose with CuO was proposed.

A simple and green hydrothermal process has been developed to produce Cu from CuO using cellulose as a reductant under mild hydrothermal conditions. The results showed that CuO was easily reduced to Cu in the presence of cellulose, and a complete conversion of CuO into Cu was obtained at a temperature of 250 °C with a reaction time of 1.5 h in 0.50 mol/L NaOH. At the same time, cellulose was converted into value-added chemicals, such as lactic acid and acetic acid. A reaction mechanism for the reduction of CuO to Cu with cellulose as a reductant was also proposed.