High-Yield Chemical Conversion of Biomass into Biofuels and Value-Added Products

We have developed a new method to efficiently convert waste biomass (agricultural, municipal, forestry) into biofuels and value-added products. The process is completely chemical in nature, inexpensive, and produces no waste stream. The derived products are non-toxic, biodegradable substitutes for petroleum, both in motor fuels and as renewable chemical intermediates. The technology involves the chemical digestion of the carbohydrate content of biomass (sugars, starch, cellulose, hemicellulose) in a proprietary biphasic reactor under mild conditions (80 °C, 2-3 h) to give 5-(chloromethyl)furfural (CMF) as the main product in isolated yields as high as 90%. To our knowledge, no other method of biomass deconstruction gives such complete conversion of carbohydrates into a simple organic molecule. We present CMF here as an emerging renewable platform chemical, providing access to a versatile portfolio of derived products.