Catalytic production of sugar alcohols from lignocellulosic biomass

• Chips of lignocellulosic biomass were directly converted into sugar alcohols.
• Softwood, hardwood, and herbaceous biomass could be converted.
• Supported ruthenium and platinum bimetallic catalyst was active for the reaction.

Lignocellulosic biomass of Japanese cedar, eucalyptus, bagasse, empty fruit bunch, and rice straw, has been directly converted into sugar alcohols such as sorbitol, mannitol, galactitol, xylitol, and arabitol, by supported platinum catalysts with hydrogen in water without any acid catalysts. Ball-milling pulverization of the lignocellulosic biomass increased the amount of total sugar alcohols from the direct conversion. The supported ruthenium and platinum bimetallic catalysts showed higher activity for the conversion of the lignocellulosic biomass. The amount of total sugar alcohols was increased up to 0.551 g from 1 g of milled bagasse by using the supported ruthenium and platinum bimetallic catalyst.

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