Cellulose conversion to polyols in subcritical water

Abstract

Subcritical water is shown to be an efficient medium for the cellulose conversion process to produce polyols. A novel type of Ru-containing hyper-crosslinked polystyrene (HPS)-immobilized catalyst is suggested. Application of the catalyst containing 1% Ru can achieve a total yield of sorbitol and mannitol of about 50%; that is comparable with the results obtained in the presence of more complex and, therefore, more expensive catalytic systems. The influence of both the process conditions and the catalyst properties on the target product yield is studied. The hydrolytic hydrogenation of cellulose in subcritical water using Ru-containing HPS-immobilized catalysts can become a base for novel technologies of cellulose biomass conversion and production of raw materials for chemical synthesis and industrial production of second generation biofuels.