It can be argued whether approaches to biofuels and renewable chemicals that start from food sugars are truly "green." A classic example of this is the widespread application of 5-(hydroxymethyl)furfural (HMF), which is produced industrially from fructose, as a platform molecule. Although the claim is made that cellulose-derived second generation sugars will eventually silence the "food-fuel" controversy, burdened economics, particularly in the case of fructose, raise questions as to whether this approach will ever be competitive with technologies that employ biomass feeds. 5-(Chloromethyl)furfural (CMF) and levulinic acid are sustainable intermediates that can be derived in a single, high-yielding step from raw biomass and unlock commercially practical access to biofuel and renewable polymer markets. CMF derivatives for example include alkyl furans and novel furanic polymers, whereas levulinic acid offers routes to succinic and 3-hydroxypropanoic acids alongside branched and cyclic alkanes that constitute high-octane cellulosic gasoline.

Why use sugars to make renewable fuels and materials when the CMF and levulinic acid platforms are one step from raw biomass?

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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