Catalytic Conversion Of Cellulose Into Polyols And 5-hydroxymethylfurfural

Conversion from cellulose to polyols and HMF are two effective ways of the utilization of biomass energy. Polyols is becoming the next generation of energy platform; HMF molecule contains an aldehyde group and a hydroxymethyl, can be used for synthesis of multi-kinds of new compounds and new polymer materials, it is considered to be the link bridge between the carbohydrate resources and the oil industry. And how to achieve the two directions efficiently is significantly for the utilization of biomass energy.Two kinds of carbon supported catalysts are prepared in different ways, the catalyst Ni-W2C/AC shows good activity, the yields of ethylene glycol and propylene glycol were 28.9% and 6.2%, The noble catalysts prepared by combustion method in which urea was used as additive showed good activity in catalytic conversion of cellulose in water. The conversion of cellulose was 100%, in the same time, when Ru-Ni/SiO2 was chosen as catalyst, the yields of ethylene glycol and propylene glycol were 26.1% and 12.1%, respectively. The additive Ni has an effect on the formation and distribution of components of catalysts, which enhanced the catalytic activity in different degree in cellulose conversion.The catalytic conversion of cellulose was studied in ionic liquid upon heating and organic solvent upon microwave irradiation. The results showed that the optimum yield of HMF was 28.9% in 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ([Bmim]Cl) when the temperature was 160℃, and 3.5μL HCl and 74 mg CrCl3·6H2O were used. In LiCl/DMAc system upon microwave irradiation, the optimum yield of HMF was 13.2% when the temperature was 150℃, and only 50 mg CrCl3·6H2O was added. Inorganic acid is not necessary in HMF production from cellulose in the LiCl/DMAc system upon microwave irradiation.