Title
Selective production of sugars and glycolaldehyde from agricultural biomass using supercritical water as reaction medium
Conference Dates
June 19-24, 2016
Abstract
Introduction
Biomass is a renewable and worldwide-distributed carbon resource which has the potential to produce energy, chemicals and fuels for the future sustainable industries [1]. Biobased industries, based on the use of renewable materials and energy, are still in development to success to promote a decentralized production that can be an alternative to the centralized petrochemical production plants.
Taking into account the wide range of possibilities for biomass refineries, plant biomass is considered a promising source to replace fossil fuels as feedstock for the sustainable production of fuels, materials and fine chemicals as sugars and added-value compounds as glycolaldehyde [2, 3] that can be obtained via thermochemical processes such as hydrolysis [4]. Glucose would be obtained from cellulose hydrolysis, hemicellulose would release its component sugars and lignin would produce phenolic compounds [5]. Also, glycolaldehyde is the main retro-aldol condensation product from glucose and it is a promising raw material to produce two-carbon building block molecules. For example, ethylene glycol is a widely applied polymer in the plastic and polyester industries. Apart from petroleum, it can be obtained through the hydrogenation of glycolaldehyde by a transition metal catalyst [6, 7]. Therefore, selective hydrolysis of cellulose into glucose and glycolaldehyde is a key process for the effective use of biomass [8].
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Recommended Citation
Celia M. Martínez, Danilo A. Cantero, Francesc Recasens, and MJ Cocero, "Selective production of sugars and glycolaldehyde from agricultural biomass using supercritical water as reaction medium" in "5th International Congress on Green Process Engineering (GPE 2016)", Franco Berruti, Western University, Canada Cedric Briens, Western University, Canada Eds, ECI Symposium Series, (2016). https://dc.engconfintl.org/gpe2016/10