Conversion of biomass platform molecules into fuel additives and liquid hydrocarbon fuels

Abstract

In this work some relevant processes for the preparation of liquid hydrocarbon fuels and fuel additives from cellulose, hemicellulose and triglycerides derived platform molecules are discussed. Thus, it is shown that a series of platform molecules such as levulinic acid, furans, fatty acids and polyols can be converted into a variety of fuel additives through catalytic transformations that include reduction, esterification, etherification, and acetalization reactions. Moreover, we will show that liquid hydrocarbon fuels can be obtained by combining oxygen removal processes (e.g. dehydration, hydrogenolysis, hydrogenation, decarbonylation/descarboxylation etc.) with the adjustment of the molecular weight via C–C coupling reactions (e.g. aldol condensation, hydroxyalkylation, oligomerization, ketonization) of the reactive platform molecules.