Production of Levoglucosenone and Dihydrolevoglucosenone
by Catalytic Reforming of Volatiles from Cellulose Pyrolysis Using
Supported Ionic Liquid Phase
posted on 2016-12-08, 00:00authored byShinji Kudo, Nozomi Goto, Jonathan Sperry, Koyo Norinaga, Jun-ichiro Hayashi
This paper presents
a novel method for continuous production of
a biomass-derived platform chemical, levoglucosenone (LGO), from cellulose
without its pretreatment or use of solvent. First, cellulose is pyrolyzed,
and then the volatiles are reformed over a catalyst consisting of
a type of ionic liquid supported over porous char. The ionic liquid,
having a moderate hydrogen-bond basicity, performs well in the dehydrative
conversion of levoglucosan (LGA) and anhydrosugar oligomers in the
volatiles to LGO at 275 °C. The catalytic reforming to LGO is
highly selective, and consequently, the yield of LGO is determined
mainly by the pyrolysis conditions that produce the LGO precursors.
The highest LGO yield we obtained was 31.6% on a cellulose carbon
basis (24.6 wt %) with fast pyrolysis that produced more precursors
than the slow one. Furthermore, the reaction system is applicable
to the production of dihydrolevoglucosenone (DLGO), a promising biobased
alternative to dipolar aprotic solvents. Addition of hydrogen in carrier
gas and a hydrogenation catalyst in the catalytic bed enables the
production of DLGO, although improvement in hydrogenation selectivity
is required in the present reforming system.