Heterogeneous acid catalysts applied to glucose and cellulose conversion for hydroxymethylfurfural production

Abstract

One important aspect for the establishment of biorefineries is the development of processes to obtain the so-called building blocks molecules. Platform molecules such as hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) are the starting point for the synthesis of a large variety of high value-added compounds, such as 2,5-furanedicarboxylic acid, the precursor monomer of bioplastic, which is able to replace the conventional polyethylene terephthalate (PET) polymer. HMF can be produced by the glucose dehydration reaction in the presence of acid catalysts. Lignocellulosic materiais are the most promising sources of raw material for obtaining sugar in biorefineries, due to their great availability in the form of agricultural and forest residues. Catalysts are an important point in the sugar conversion reaction to produce HMF. Among the possible catalysts that can be used for this purpose, heterogeneous catalysts stand out as a promising alternative due to their greater simplicity in the reaction product recovery step and the possibility of reuse of the catalyst. Heteropolyacids are a group of catalysts still little explored for HMF production, which stand out for their high acidity, comparable to inorganic acids such as sulfuric acid. In this context, the present project has as objective the development of heteropolyacid catalysts for HMF production from glucose and cellulose. In this step, studies of catalysts preparation will be carried out. In a subsequent step, evaluation of reactional parameters able of influencing the HMF production will be carried out. As a final step, studies of the stability of the better catalysts and evaluation of reaction kinetics under optimized conditions will also be performed. The present project is quite relevant from the technological and environmental point of view, since it promotes the development of processes aimed at the use of large scale lignocellulosic biomass to obtain platform molecules for the production of chemical inputs in substitution of fossil origin sources. (AU)