Selective production of valuable chemicals from biomass by two-step conversion combining pre-oxidation and hydrothermal degradation

• We proposed two-step treatment method to overcome the problem of low selectivity.
• Valuable chemicals were recovered selectively from biomass through proposed method.
• The degradation mechanism of cellulose was discussed.
• New refinery scheme of biomass was proposed.

Biomass is getting notable as a new energy resource to replace fossil resources and to restrain CO2 emission recently. However, it is obvious that the energy use of biomass is unsuitable for its limit of available amounts. Consequently, we investigated the possibility of new refinery scheme of biomass to utilize biomass as an alternative raw material to fossil resources with suggested two-step treatment method. We oxidized cellulose and biomass with H2O2 first and put the residue into hydrothermal condition to obtain some specific chemicals. Through the first oxidation of cellulose, 0.26 g/g-cellulose of organic acid was obtained, and 0.35 g/g-cellulose of oxalic acid was obtained under the catalytic condition. Both cedar and cellulose decreased their crystallinity through the first oxidation and increased their reactivity, we could obtain hydroxymethylfurfural(HMF) from cellulose and biomass through the hydrothermal degradation, 0.11 g/g-cellulose and 0.12 g/g-cedar respectively.