Eco-Friendly Catalytic Synthesis of Top Value Chemicals from Valorization of Cellulose Waste

Abstract

The total amount of cellulose from paper, wood, food, and other human activity waste produced in the EU is in the order of 900 million tons per year. This resource represents a sizable opportunity to produce renewable chemicals and energy. This paper reports, unprecedently in the literature, the usage of four different urban wastes such as cigarette butts, sanitary pant diapers, newspapers, and soybean peels as cellulose fonts to produce valuable industrial intermediates such as levulinic acid (LA), 5-acetoxymethyl-2-furaldehyde (AMF), 5-(hydroxymethyl)furfural (HMF), and furfural. The process is accomplished by the hydrothermal treatment of cellulosic waste using both Brønsted and Lewis acid catalysts such as CH3COOH (2.5–5.7 M), H3PO4 (15%), and Sc(OTf)3 (20% w:w), thus obtaining HMF (22%), AMF (38%), LA (25–46%), and furfural (22%) with good selectivity and under relatively mild conditions (T = 200 °C, time = 2 h). These final products can be employed in several chemical sectors, for example, as solvents, fuels, and for new materials as a monomer precursor. The characterization of matrices was accomplished by FTIR and LCSM analyses, demonstrating the influence of morphology on reactivity. The low e-factor values and the easy scale up render this protocol suitable for industrial applications.

Kraft (Nano)Lignin as Reactive Additive in Epoxy Polymer Bio-Composites

“…Lignocellulosic biomass has tremendous potential in this effort. More specifically, the three main structural components of lignocellulosic biomass, i.e., cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin, represent an abundant source of chemicals that can be derived from chemo- and bio-catalytic depolymerization and transformations of the above biopolymers [ 2 , 10 , 11 , 12 ]. To this end, lignin is considered as the most abundant natural source of phenolic and aromatic compounds with huge valorization and exploitation potential [ 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ].…”

Sustainable Production of Lactic Acid from Cellulose Using Au/W-ZnO Catalysts

“…Cellulose, as the most abundant biomass resource, is a linear polymer compound consisting of D-glucopyranose rings linked by β-(1,4)-glucoside bonds. It can be transformed into high-value chemicals such as lactic acid (LA), formic acid, acetic acid, ethylene glycol, and propylene glycol [2,3]. Among these chemicals, LA is a promising platform compound that can generate various derivatives such as acrylic acid, propylene glycol, and pyruvic acid.…”