Nanostructured Metal Catalysts for Selective Hydrogenation and Oxidation of Cellulosic Biomass to Chemicals

Conversion of biomass to chemicals provides essential products to human society from renewable resources. In this context, achieving atom‐economical and energy‐efficient conversion with high selectivity towards target products remains a key challenge. Recent developments in nanostructured catalysts address this challenge reporting remarkable performances in shape and morphology dependent catalysis by metals on nano scale in energy and environmental applications. In this review, most recent advances in synthesis of heterogeneous nanomaterials, surface characterization and catalytic performances for hydrogenation and oxidation for biorenewables with plausible mechanism have been discussed. The perspectives obtained from this review paper will provide insights into rational design of active, selective and stable catalytic materials for sustainable production of value‐added chemicals from biomass resources.     

Inorganic molecular sieves: Preparation,modification and industrial application in catalytic processes

The increasing environmental concern and promotion of “green processes” are forcing the substitution of traditional acid and base homogeneous catalysts by solid ones. Among these heterogeneous catalysts, zeolites and zeotypes can be considered as real “green” catalysts, due to their benign nature from an environmental point of view. The importance of these inorganic molecular sieves within the field of heterogeneous catalysis relies not only on their microporous structure and the related shape selectivity, but also on the flexibility of their chemical composition. Modification of the zeolite framework composition results in materials with acidic, basic or redox properties, whereas multifunctional catalysts can be obtained by introducing metals by ion exchange or impregnation procedures, that can catalyze hydrogenation–dehydrogenation reactions, and the number of commercial applications of zeolite based catalysts is continuously expanding.In this review we discuss determinant issues for the development of zeolite based catalysts, going from zeolite catalyst preparation up to their industrial application. Concerning the synthesis of microporous materials we present some of the new trends moving into larger pore structures or into organic free synthesis media procedures, thanks to the incorporation of novel organic templates or alternative framework elements, and to the use of high-throughput synthesis methods. Post-synthesis zeolite modification and final catalyst conformation for industrial use are briefly discussed.In a last section we give a thorough overview on the application of zeolites in industrial processes. Some of them are well established mature technologies, such as fluid catalytic cracking, hydrocracking or aromatics alkylation. Although the number of zeolite structures commercially used as heterogeneous catalysts in these fields is limited, the development of new catalysts is a continuous challenge due to the need for processing heavier feeds or for increasing the quality of the products. The application of zeolite based catalysts in the production of chemicals and fine chemicals is an emerging field, and will greatly depend on the discovery of new or known structures by alternative, lower cost, synthesis routes, and the fine tuning of their textural properties. Finally, biomass conversion and selective catalytic reduction for conversion of NOx are two active research fields, highlighting the interest in these potential industrial applications.     

Green approaches in the valorization of plant wastes: Recent insights and future directions

Modern biorefinery technologies use a wide range of plant fibers/wastes and bioconversion techniques to produce a variety of biofuels and other goods. Plant waste, or lignocellulose, is one of the world's most easily accessible, sustainable, and biodegradable bioresources and has been identified as a valuable alternative raw material for the production of a variety of biofuels and chemicals. Furthermore, the generation of platform chemicals and biofuels from plant wastes benefits the environment and the economy. We will cover current advances in biotechnologies for valorizing plant lignocellulosic wastes to produce a wide range of high-value products such as biofuels, biocatalysts, biologically active chemicals, and so on in this brief communication. Furthermore, significant emphasis has been made on the green conversion of lignin into useful compounds, produced in large quantities as a by-product of paper and pulp or other industrial processes.     

Recent advances of use of the supercritical carbon dioxide for the biomass pre-treatment and extraction: A mini-review

Biomass is considered as the most sustainable and renewable resource for the synthesis of value added potential platform chemicals. Various techniques are utilized to extract or to pre-treat or to isolate various value added chemicals from biomass. Pre-treatment of the biomass is a very essential aspect to enhance the biomass processing yield which is attributed to reduced lignin content/delignification, cellulose crystallinity and hemi-cellulose hydration. In search of efficient extraction and processing for biomass treatment, supercritical fluid (SCF) has been considered as the green technique to obtain the value added chemicals with higher efficiency than conventional technique. The use of the supercritical carbon dioxide (SC–CO₂) pre-treatment on biomass not only enhances glucose yield effectively but also delignify, hydrolyse hemi-cellulose component and allows extraction of various compounds from the biomass. However, very limited research articles are available for the use of SC-CO₂ for biomass processing to obtain value-added chemicals. In view of this, the present review article focus on the recent advances of applications of SC-CO₂ in (i) extraction of value added chemicals from biomass processing, (ii) biomass pre-treatment, (iii) factors affecting SC-CO₂ processing efficiency, (iv) scale-up scenario (v) challenges and opportunities in this field.     

Catalytic Deoxygenation of Xylitol to Renewable Chemicals: Advances on Catalyst Design and Mechanistic Studies

Xylitol is commonly known as one of the top platform intermediates for biomass conversion. Catalytic deoxygenation of xylitol provides an atomic and energetic efficient way to produce a variety of renewable chemicals including ethylene glycol, 1,2‐propanediol, lactic acid and 1,4‐anhydroxylitol. Despite a few initial attempts in converting xylitol into those products, improving catalyst selectivity towards C?O and C?C cleavage reactions remains a grand challenge in this area. To our best knowledge, there is lack of comprehensive review to summarize the most recent advances on catalyst design and mechanisms in deoxygenation of xylitol, offering important perspective into future development of xylitol transformation technologies. Therefore, in this mini‐review, we have critically discussed the conversion routes involved in xylitol deoxygenation over solid catalyst materials, the nanostructures of supported metal catalysts for C?H, C?C and C?O bond cleavage reactions, and mechanistic investigation for xylitol conversion. The outcome of this work provides new insights into rational design of effective deoxygenation catalyst materials for upgrading of xylitol and future process development in converting hemicellulosic biomass.     

光电解水制氢耦合生物质醇/醛氧化的研究进展

生物质醇/醛是一类重要的生物基平台化合物, 通过催化氧化重整可将其进一步转化为高值含氧化学品或燃料. 太阳能驱动的光电催化技术是实现生物质醇/醛氧化最为绿色高效的途径之一. 与传统光电解水制氢相比, 利用生物质醇/醛氧化来替代阳极析氧过程不仅可以提高阳极产物的附加值, 同时可以提升太阳能到氢能的转化效率. 因此, 光电解水制氢耦合生物质醇/醛氧化对绿氢提效降本和高值化学品合成具有重要意义. 本文综合评述了光电解水制氢耦合生物质醇/醛的氧化反应机理, 总结了目前光电催化技术在生物质醇/醛氧化方面的研究进展, 最后对该领域所面临的机遇和挑战进行了展望.     

Organocatalytic Upgrading of Biomass Derived Building Blocks

The depletion of finite primary fossil fuels we are facing makes necessary a deep metamorphosis in fundamental parts of the chemical industry. A progressive transition from petro-based starting materials toward renewable biomass-derived sources will have to take place in the synthesis of added-value chemicals, important for our everyday life, such as pharmaceuticals, polymers, agrochemicals etc. Moreover, greener processes, carried out under friendlier reaction conditions, must be designed to address current concerns about the climate change and the resulting pressing need to reduce the environmental footprint of chemical processes. To this end, organocatalysis could offer a valuable opportunity for upgrading biomass-derived platform molecules in line with the principles of Green Chemistry. This review presents some of recent and remarkable advancements in this emerging area. Organocatalysis has proven to be an efficient tool to transform low value bio-based renewable platform building blocks into new high value bio-based chemicals, with potential applications as synthetic intermediates, innovative materials and pharmaceutically active compounds.     

Biopolymers as a Flexible Resource for Nanochemistry

Biomass is an abundant source of chemically diverse macromolecules, including polysaccharides, polypeptides, and polyaromatics. Many of these biological polymers (biopolymers) are highly evolved for specific functions through optimized chain length, functionalization, and monomer sequence. As biopolymers are a chemical resource, much current effort is focused on the breakdown of these molecules into fuels or platform chemicals. However there is growing interest in using biopolymers directly to create functional materials. This Minireview uses recent examples to show how biopolymers are providing new directions in the synthesis of nanostructured materials.     

Green chemistry in the bulk chemicals industry

The bulk chemicals industry is a branch of the chemical industry whose assortment includes key organic synthesis products and intermediates. The world output of these products is as large as millions of tons. This scale requires the use of not only maximally inexpensive raw materials but also the most selective and energy-efficient processes for converting them into target products. This paper considers the examples of changing the sources of raw materials and developing catalysts and processes to minimize environmental disruption. The majority of these new processes have been introduced into industry well before the appearance of the term green chemistry; their development has been stimulated by not only environmental protection but also economic reasons.     

Glycerol Valorization—The Role of Biochar Catalysts

The conversion of renewable feedstocks into new added-value products is a current hot topic that includes the biodiesel industry. When converting vegetable oils into biodiesel, approximately 10% of glycerol byproduct is produced. Glycerol can be envisaged as a chemical platform due to its chemical versatility, as a scaffold or building block, in producing a wide range of added-value chemicals. Thus, the development of sustainable routes to obtain glycerol-based products is crucial and urgent. This certainly encompasses the use of raw carbonaceous materials from biomass as heterogeneous acid catalysts. Moreover, the integration of surface functional groups, such as sulfonic acid, in carbon-based solid materials, makes them low cost, exhibiting high catalytic activity with concomitant stability. This review summarizes the work developed by the scientific community, during the last 10 years, on the use of biochar catalysts for glycerol transformation.     

Recent advances in heterogeneous catalytic conversion of glucose to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural via green routes

With concerns of diminishing fossil fuel reserves and environmental deterioration, great efforts have been made to explore novel approaches of efficiently utilizing bio-renewable feedstocks to produce chemicals and fuels. 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural(HMF),generated from dehydration of six-carbon ketose, is regarded as a primary and versatile renewable building block to realize the goal of production of these high valued products from renewable biomass resources transformation. In this review, we summarize the recent advances via green routes in the heterogeneous reaction system for the catalytic production of HMF from glucose conversion, and emphasize reaction pathways of these reaction approaches based on the fundamental mechanistic chemistry as well as highlight the challenges(such as separation and purification of products, reusing and regeneration of catalyst, recycling solvent) in this field.     

脂肪酸光脱羧酶及其在有机合成中应用的研究进展

生物基脂肪酸是极具应用潜力的可再生资源。以绿色、低碳的方式对生物基脂肪酸进行转化合成高价值的化学品和燃料可满足现代社会可持续发展的迫切需要,也符合绿色生物制造的需求。生物催化因反应条件温和、选择性高等特点受到众多学者的广泛关注,其中,近年来新发现的由可见光驱动的脂肪酸光脱羧酶（fatty acid photodecarboxyase, CvFAP）可催化不同链长的脂肪酸进行脱羧反应用来合成燃料和化学品,反应过程具有极高原子经济性,在绿色催化工艺及能源领域具有广阔的应用前景。本综述旨在对脂肪酸光脱羧酶（CvFAP）的最新研究进展进行总结分析,并对脂肪酸光脱羧酶的发展趋势进行展望,以期为脂肪酸光脱羧酶（CvFAP）在绿色合成领域的进一步开发利用提供参考。     

Synthesis of seven and higher membered nitrogen containing heterocycles using photochemical irradiation

Photochemical reactions have been applied for the synthesis of complex targets in many examples recently. In many cases, these processes provide access to unique modes of reactivity or offer unrivaled increases in molecular complexity. The key-features of photochemical reactions include increased selectivity, conversion, and yield and are beneficial for industrial and “green” processes. Despite these advantages, however, photochemical reactions in chemical production or R and D processes are rare. Most technical processes are limited to commodity chemicals and have been developed decades ago. The application of photochemical reactions for the synthesis of fine chemicals, natural products, and pharmaceutically active compounds, has become very popular. Photochemical reactions are used for organic synthesis and this review article highlighted the syntheses of heterocycles. Photochemistry is particularly fascinating and afforded an exotic charm due to its unconventional nature. In this review, I have given a clear idea of applicability of photochemical irradiations for the synthesis of a number of seven and higher membered N-heterocycles.     

Radical-Mediated Photocatalysis for Lignocellulosic Biomass Conversion into Value-Added Chemicals and Hydrogen: Facts,Opportunities and Challenges

Photocatalytic biomass conversion into high-value chemicals and fuels is considered one of the hottest ongoing research and industrial topics toward sustainable development. In short, this process can cleave C_β−O/C_α−C_β bonds in lignin to aromatic platform chemicals, and further conversion of the polysaccharides to other platform chemicals and H₂. From the chemistry point of view, the optimization of the unique cooperative interplay of radical oxidation species (which are activated via molecular oxygen species, ROSs) and substrate-derived radical intermediates by appropriate control of their type and/or yield is key to the selective production of desired products. Technically, several challenges have been raised that face successful real-world applications. This review aims to discuss the recently reported mechanistic pathways toward selective biomass conversion through the optimization of ROSs behavior and materials/system design. On top of that, through a SWOT analysis, we critically discussed this technology from both chemistry and technological viewpoints to help the scientists and engineers bridge the gap between lab-scale and large-scale production.     

Biofuels and biomass-to-liquid fuels in the biorefinery: catalytic conversion of lignocellulosic biomass using porous materials

At a time when the focus is on global warming, CO(2) emission, secure energy supply, and less consumption of fossil-based fuels, the use of renewable energy resources is essential. Various biomass resources are discussed that can deliver fuels, chemicals, and energy products. The focus is on the catalytic conversion of biomass from wood. The challenges involved in the processing of lignocellulose-rich materials will be highlighted, along with the application of porous materials as catalysts for the biomass-to-liquids (BTL) fuels in biorefineries. The mechanistic understanding of the complex reactions that take place, the development of catalysts and processes, and the product spectrum that is envisaged will be discussed, along with a sustainable concept for biorefineries based on lignocellulose. Finally, the current situation with respect to upgrading of the process technology (pilot and commercial units) will be addressed.     

New methods of heterogeneous catalysis for lignocellulosic biomass conversion to chemicals

This review deals with the use of solid catalysts for the enhancement of the efficiency and the development of a new generation of environmentally friendly, energy and resource efficient processes for the deep processing of lignocellulosic biomass to desired chemicals. The oxidative delignification of wood with hydrogen peroxide in the presence of the suspended TiO₂ catalyst, the oxidation of wood with molecular oxygen in the presence of copper catalysts, the acidcatalyzed conversion of cellulose to glucose and levulinic acid, and the thermal conversion of lignin to fuel additives on solid acid catalysts are analyzed. New integrated processes based on the heterogeneous catalytic oxidation are suitable for the complex processing of lignocellulosic biomass to produce valuable chemicals and engine fuel components without the use of toxic and corrosion-active reagents.     

Bio-refinery as the bio-inspired process to bulk chemicals

This paper describes several examples of knowledge-intensive technologies for the production of chemicals from biomass, which take advantage of the biomass structure in a more efficient way than the production of fuels or electricity alone. The depletion in fossil feedstocks, increasing oil prices, and the ecological problems associated with CO(2) emissions are forcing the development of alternative resources for energy, transport fuels, and chemicals, such as the replacement of fossil resources with CO(2) neutral biomass. Allied with this is the conversion of crude oil products utilizes primary products (ethylene, etc.) and their conversion into either materials or (functional) chemicals with the aid of co-reagents such as ammonia, by various process steps to introduce functionalities such as -NH(2) into the simple structures of the primary products. Conversely, many products found in biomass often contain functionalities. Therefore, it is attractive to exploit this in order to by-pass the use, and preparation of, co-reagents as well as to eliminate various process steps by utilizing suitable biomass-based precursors for the production of chemicals.     

Novel hydrothermal carbonization of cellulose catalyzed by montmorillonite to produce kerogen-like hydrochar

The conversion of cellulose to petroleum-like fuel is a very challenging yet attractive route to developing biomass-to-fuel technology. Many attempts have been made in liquefaction, pyrolysis and gasification of cellulose to produce fuels or intermediate chemicals. Previous studies indicate that these processes are tough. Hence, the present work is concerned with the development of new technologies for the conversion of cellulose into materials which are analogies to the precursor of petroleum. Montmorillonite-catalyzed hydrothermal carbonization of microcrystalline cellulose for the production of kerogen-like hydrochar under mild conditions was investigated. It was revealed that the hydrothermal carbonization of microcrystalline cellulose alone resulted in hydrochar with type III kerogen-like structure, whereas in the presence of montmorillonite, the hydrothermal carbonization of microcrystalline cellulose yielded a hydrochar-mineral complex, of which the isolated organic fraction was oil-prone type II kerogen-like structure. Results suggested that further improved montmorillonite-aided biomass conversion to more oil-prone kerogen-like solid products could be an alternative efficient route to obtain biofuel and chemicals.     

Microwave-Assisted Conversion of Carbohydrates

Catalytic conversion of carbohydrates into value-added products and platform chemicals became a trend in recent years. Microwave activation used in the processes of carbohydrate conversion coupled with the proper choice of catalysts makes it possible to enhance dramatically the efficiency and sometimes the selectivity of catalysts. This mini-review presents a brief literature survey related to state-of-the-art methods developed recently by the world research community to solve the problem of rational conversion of carbohydrates, mostly produced from natural resources and wastes (forestry and agriculture wastes) including production of hydrogen, synthesis gas, furanics, and alcohols. The focus is made on microwave technologies used for processing carbohydrates. Of particular interest is the use of heterogeneous catalysts and hybrid materials in processing carbohydrates.     

Pretreatment processes for lignocellulosic biomass conversion to biofuels and bioproducts

Lignocellulosic materials, such as forestry, agricultural and agroindustrial residues, are among the most important sources of biomass for the production of fuels, chemicals and materials. However there are physical and chemical barriers in the lignin–carbohydrate supramolecular structure that render most plant cell wall components almost completely unavailable for conversion into commercial products. Thus successful conversion strategies must lead to the disruption of this structure and result in partial or total separation of the lignocellulosic components, increasing the accessibility of cellulose, hemicelluloses and lignins. It must also minimize the formation of by-products. Each pretreatment technology has its own characteristics and is usually applied to a specific source of carbohydrates and lignins. A general overview of the most important pretreatment methods for the production of platform chemicals and fermentable sugars are given in this paper.