Issue 6, 2015
From the journal:

Energy & Environmental Science

Dehydration of cellulose to levoglucosenone using polar aprotic solvents

Fei Cao,ab   Thomas J. Schwartz,a   Daniel J. McClelland,a   Siddarth H. Krishna,a   James A. Dumesica  and  George W. Huber*a  

* Corresponding authors

a Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Wisconsin – Madison, 1415 Engineering Drive, Madison, WI 53706, USA
E-mail: huber@engr.wisc.edu

b College of Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, 30 South Puzhu Road, Nanjing, Jiangsu 211816, China

Abstract

Herein, we report an approach to produce levoglucosenone (LGO) from cellulose in yields up to 51% under mild reaction conditions (170–230 °C; 5–20 mM H2SO4) using polar, aprotic solvents such as tetrahydrofuran (THF). LGO can be used to make a wide variety of chemicals from biomass. The water content and solvent used in the reaction system control the product distribution. LGO is produced from the dehydration of levoglucosan (LGA). LGA is produced from cellulose depolymerization. Increasing the water content leads to the production of 5-hydroxymethyl furfural (HMF), obtaining a maximum HMF yield of 30%.

Graphical abstract: Dehydration of cellulose to levoglucosenone using polar aprotic solvents

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Article information

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1039/C5EE00353A
Article type
Paper
Submitted
02 Feb 2015
Accepted
18 May 2015
First published
18 May 2015
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Energy Environ. Sci., 2015,8, 1808-1815

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Dehydration of cellulose to levoglucosenone using polar aprotic solvents

F. Cao, T. J. Schwartz, D. J. McClelland, S. H. Krishna, J. A. Dumesic and G. W. Huber, Energy Environ. Sci., 2015, 8, 1808 DOI: 10.1039/C5EE00353A

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