Biomass Derived Chemicals: Furfural Oxidative Esterification to Methyl-2-furoate over Gold Catalysts

Biomass Derived Chemicals: Furfural Oxidative Esterification to Methyl-2-furoate over Gold Catalysts

The use of heterogeneous catalysis to upgrade biomass wastes coming from lignocellulose into higher value-added chemicals is one of the most explored subjects in the prospective vision of bio-refinery. In this frame, a lot of interest has been driven towards biomass-derived building block molecules, such as furfural. Gold supported catalysts have been successfully proven to be highly active and...

Conversion of biomass-derived levulinate and formate esters into γ-valerolactone over supported gold catalysts.

The utilization of biomass has recently attracted tremendous attention as a potential alternative to petroleum for the production of liquid fuels and chemicals. We report an efficient alcohol-mediated reactive extraction strategy by which a hydrophobic mixture of butyl levulinate and formate esters, derived from cellulosic biomass, can be converted to valuable γ-valerolactone (GVL) by a simple ...

A tunable process: catalytic transformation of renewable furfural with aliphatic alcohols in the presence of molecular oxygen.

The tunable transformation of renewable furfural with aliphatic alcohols in the presence of O2 is developed. Based on a nano Au catalyst and potassium carbonate, a 91.8% yield of methyl 2-furoate with 98.7% selectivity is obtained via the oxidative esterification in a furfural-methanol-O2 system; while a 91.4% yield of 3-(furan-2-yl-)-2-methylacrylaldehyde with 97.2% selectivity is attained via...

Conversion of biomass-derived sorbitol to glycols over carbon-materials supported Ru-based catalysts.

Ruthenium (Ru) supported on activated carbon (AC) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) was carried out in the hydrogenolysis of sorbitol to ethylene glycol (EG) and 1,2-propanediol (1,2-PD) under the promotion of tungsten (WOx) species and different bases. Their catalytic activities and glycols selectivities strongly depended on the support properties and location of Ru on CNTs, owning to the altered me...

Prospectives for bio - oil upgrading via esterification over zeolite catalysts