Abstract
The production of chemicals from biomass, a renewable feedstock, is highly desirable in replacing petrochemicals to make biorefineries more economical. The best approach to compete with fossil-based refineries is the upgradation of biomass in integrated biorefineries. The integrated biorefineries employed various biomass feedstocks and conversion technologies to produce biofuels and bio-based chemicals. Bio-based chemicals can help to replace a large fraction of industrial chemicals and materials from fossil resources. Biomass-derived chemicals, such as 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF), levulinic acid, furfurals, sugar alcohols, lactic acid, succinic acid, and phenols, are considered platform chemicals. These platform chemicals can be further used for the production of a variety of important chemicals on an industrial scale. However, current industrial production relies on relatively old and inefficient strategies and low production yields, which have decreased their competitiveness with fossil-based alternatives. The aim of the presented review is to provide a survey of past and current strategies used to achieve a sustainable conversion of biomass to platform chemicals. This review provides an overview of the chemicals obtained, based on the major components of lignocellulosic biomass, sugars, and lignin. First, important platform chemicals derived from the catalytic conversion of biomass were outlined. Later, the targeted chemicals that can be potentially manufactured from the starting or platform materials were discussed in detail. Despite significant advances, however, low yields, complex multistep synthesis processes, difficulties in purification, high costs, and the deactivation of catalysts are still hurdles for large-scale competitive biorefineries. These challenges could be overcome by single-step catalytic conversions using highly efficient and selective catalysts and exploring purification and separation technologies.
Highlights
A dependence on fossil-based energy sources, decreasing accessibility to crude oil, motivation to protect the environment from disastrous carbon emissions, and an increasing world population have led to increased interest in becoming less energy dependent than in the past
The difficulty in the valorization of lignin originates from its complex polymeric structure, which differs from one lignin to another depending on the botanical origin and the pretreatment used for its separation from carbohydrates
This review summarizes the production of platform chemicals from lignocellulosic biomass components
Summary
A dependence on fossil-based energy sources, decreasing accessibility to crude oil, motivation to protect the environment from disastrous carbon emissions, and an increasing world population have led to increased interest in becoming less energy dependent than in the past. The integrated biorefineries employed various biomass feedstocks and conversion technologies to produce biofuels and bio-based chemicals. From an industrial point of view, a biorefinery should require the most efficient conversion processes for the production of high valued chemicals and biofuels [1,2,3] Biomass feedstocks, such as agricultural residues and wood chips, Energies 2019, 12, 233; doi:10.3390/en12020233 www.mdpi.com/journal/energies. A major objective of this review review is is to to address address the the production production of of chemicals chemicals and and further further their their derivatives derivatives from from sugars sugars as as well well as as lignin components of biomass This basic review is helpful for beginners entering the field.
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