Increasing global energy demands and climate change has provided motivation for scientists to seek out more sustainable and renewable sources of energy. Consequently, the field of biomass valorization has expanded dramatically over the past decade and now represents an exciting and diverse field in the catalysis science. This aim of this project, entitled NOVACAM (Novel Abundant Cheap Available Metals), was to bring together researchers from the EU and Japan, to develop highly efficient novel catalysts for the valorization of biomass. The work herein, is representative of some of the research conducted in the Cardiff Catalysis Institute over the course of the project. This research summarizes the progress made in developing Cu-ZrO<sub>2</sub> catalysts for the hydrogenation of levulinic acid (LA) and transfer hydrogenation of methyl levulinate (Figure 1) to produce GVL; a promising bio-fuel.<br/>The work combines catalyst synthesis strategies with various characterization techniques, experimental testing and theoretical calculation, yielding insight on the rate dependencies, surface mechanism and desired catalytic properties for each reaction. We consider that the developments made over the course of this project, provide a solid foundation for future catalyst design in this field of research.

New insights into hydrogenation and transfer hydrogenation of levulinic acid and methyl levulinate over Cu-ZrO2 catalysts

2019 Fall National Meeting

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.