Dual functional polymeric solid acid catalysts are designed and synthesized to facilitate cellulose dissolution and catalyze its hydrolysis and dehydration reactions. These solid acid catalysts consist of two neighboring polymer chains, a poly (styrene sulfonic acid) (PSSA) polymer chain and a poly (vinyl imidazolium chloride) ionic liquid (PIL) polymer chain. The catalytic activity and selectivity can be tuned by varying the polymer properties as well as the reaction conditions. Our studies using these solid acid catalysts have demonstrated yields &gt; 95% for total reducing sugar (TRS), &gt; 70% for dehydration to 5-hydroxymethyfurfural (HMF) and &gt; 50% for production of levulinic acid at 130oC, 135oC and 165oC respectively in ionic liquid/gamma-Valerolactone (GVL) mixtures using cellulose substrate. Moreover, these optimized catalysts have been used directly for biomass hydrolysis and dehydration using steam, dilute acid and base pretreated samples obtained from National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). High conversion and yields are obtained at even milder conditions. The effects of lignin and pretreatment conditions on the catalytic conversion are elucidated. These results show that our unique tunable catalysts are efficient, stable, versatile and maintain high activity after repeated runs.

Tunable polymeric solid acid catalysts for biomass hydrolysis and dehydration

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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