Currently in the United States, 97% of nonrenewable petroleum is used as a source of fuel for vehicles and other gas burning systems. In fact, U.S. energy from transportation consumes 63% of all oil, although half of this oil is imported from foreign countries. There are several incentives for developing renewable energy sources, such as the depletion of our current oil source; the U.S. relies heavily on foreign energy sources; increased energy consumption across the globe; and the significant negative impact on the environment that results from the burning of fossil fuels.  Cellulosic production of ethanol has become a promising alternative due to the abundance of cellulose in nature and exclusion from the human food chain providing a lower cost production route.  However, lignin and hemicellulose interfere during the conversion of cellulose to sugar, and has limited the commercial production of cellulosic ethanol.  We propose that these limitations can be reduced through heterogeneous catalysis.  Due to the high reactivity and large surface area to volume ratio of metal nanoparticles, catalysts with unique surface properties can be produced that will enhance ethanol production through cleavage of the C-O bond within the lignin-cellulose backbone.Acknowledgements: This material is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Nos. NSF EPS-1158862, HRD-1137681, and DGE-1144843.

Heterogeneous catalysis of c-o bond cleavage for cellulose deconstruction: A potential pathway for ethanol production

246th National Meeting (2013)

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