Platform chemicals from biomass

PhD ceremony: Mr. C.B. Rasrendra, 14.30 uur, Academiegebouw, Broerstraat 5, Groningen

Dissertation: Platform chemicals from biomass

Promotor(s): prof. H.J. Heeres

Faculty: Mathematics and Natural Sciences

The development of platform chemicals from biomass resources is of utmost importance for the establishment of future bio-based economies. This thesis focuses on the development of catalytic methodologies for platform chemicals from the sugar fraction of lignocellulosic biomass and the isolation of platform chemicals from crude fast pyrolysis oil. The aim is to identify novel catalytic conversions, to optimise existing ones and, in selected cases, to explore promising product separation strategies. We found that metal salts are unique catalysts to obtain promising platform chemicals from the sugar fraction of biomass. Lactic acid, a precursor for bioplastics, was obtained in high yields in water when aluminum salts were used as the catalysts. High yields up to 90 mol% are possible when triose sugars are used as starting materials. 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), a versatile biobased building block, was obtained in unprecedentedly high yields (60 mol%) when reacting D-glucose in DMSO with metal salts as the catalysts.