The Renewable Chemicals Industry

Abstract

The possibilities for establishing a renewable chemicals industry featuring renewable resources as the dominant feedstock rather than fossil resources are discussed in this Concept. Such use of biomass can potentially be interesting from both an economical and ecological perspective. Simple and educational tools are introduced to allow initial estimates of which chemical processes could be viable. Specifically, fossil and renewables value chains are used to indicate where renewable feedstocks can be optimally valorized. Additionally, C factors are introduced that specify the amount of CO2 produced per kilogram of desired product to illustrate in which processes the use of renewable resources lead to the most substantial reduction of CO2 emissions. The steps towards a renewable chemicals industry will most likely involve intimate integration of biocatalytic and conventional catalytic processes to arrive at cost-competitive and environmentally friendly processes.

Synergy of boric acid and added salts in the catalytic dehydration of hexoses to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural in water

“…Fructose (99%), glucose (≥99.5%), B(OH) 3 (99.8%), levulinic acid (98%), formic acid (99.8%), methyl-isobutylketone (MIBK) (≥99.0%), and tetrahydrofuran (THF) (99.9%) were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich. 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural (>99%) was purchased from SAFC and sucrose (99%) from Alfa Aesar and all used without further purification.…”

“…As a general procedure the dehydration of fructose, glucose or sucrose was performed in a sealed pressure stable glass tube (Ace, pressure limit: 20 bar) charged with an aqueous solution of the sugar (30 wt%, 3.0 mL, 5.7 mmol), a specified mass of solid B(OH) 3 and a magnet. In experiments with organic solvent extraction, these were used in the volume ratio 4 : 1 (org : aq).…”

“…Boric acid, B(OH) 3 or H 3 BO 3 , acts as a Lewis acid in aqueous solutions forming tetrahydroxyborate and a proton (or hydronium ion) upon reaction with water. The nature of the boric acid suggests (based on previous published results by Kuster and Temmink 23 ) that it is too weak an acid to efficiently catalyze the dehydration reaction of fructose to HMF.…”

“…A 1.88 M aqueous solution of fructose and a 1.93 M solution of glucose (both~30 wt%) were titrated with solid B(OH) 3 to the point of saturation at room temperature to monitor the associated pH change as a function of the B(OH) 3 concentration (Fig. 1).…”

Editorial: Chemistry of Renewables

“…It seems very probable that over the coming years, biomass will find more and more widespread use as a renewable raw material in the chemical industry where it can be used to produce chemicals with higher value than transportation fuels and energy. [2] Thus, there are many good reasons to pursue the development of energy-efficient and environmentally friendly technologies that produce chemicals from renewables, and this issue of ChemSusChem features a collection of such efforts. Hopefully, this will inspire many others to further develop this field, which will ultimately form the basis for a truly renewable chemical industry.…”