The ever increasing industrial production of commodity and specialty chemicals inexorably depletes the finite primary fossil resources available on Earth. The forecast of population growth over the next 3 decades is a very strong incentive for the identification of alternative primary resources other than petro-based ones. In contrast with fossil resources, renewable biomass is a virtually inexhaustible reservoir of chemical building blocks. Shifting the current industrial paradigm from almost exclusively petro-based resources to alternative bio-based raw materials requires more than vibrant political messages; it requires a profound revision of the concepts and technologies on which industrial chemical processes rely. Only a small fraction of molecules extracted from biomass bears significant chemical and commercial potentials to be considered as ubiquitous chemical platforms upon which a new, bio-based industry can thrive. Owing to its inherent assets in terms of unique process experience, scalability, and reduced environmental footprint, flow chemistry arguably has a major role to play in this context. This review covers a selection of C2 to C6 bio-based chemical platforms with existing commercial markets including polyols (ethylene glycol, 1,2-propanediol, 1,3-propanediol, glycerol, 1,4-butanediol, xylitol, and sorbitol), furanoids (furfural and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural) and carboxylic acids (lactic acid, succinic acid, fumaric acid, malic acid, itaconic acid, and levulinic acid). The aim of this review is to illustrate the various aspects of upgrading bio-based platform molecules toward commodity or specialty chemicals using new process concepts that fall under the umbrella of continuous flow technology and that could change the future perspectives of biorefineries.

Continuous Flow Upgrading of Selected C2-C6 Platform Chemicals Derived from Biomass.

In the current context of transitioning to more sustainable chemical processes, the upgrading of biobased platform molecules (i.e., the chemical transformation of widely available low molecular weight entities from biomass) is attracting significant attention, in particular when combined with enabling continuous flow conditions. The success of this combination is largely due to the ability to explore new process conditions and the perspective of facilitating seamless scalability while maintaining a small overall footprint. This review considers representative continuous flow processes which utilize a selection of currently popular platform molecules that target industrially relevant building blocks, including (a) commodity chemicals, (b) specialty and fine chemicals, and (c) fuels and fuel additives.

Sustaining the Transition from a Petrobased to a Biobased Chemical Industry with Flow Chemistry

Many studies have been conducted regarding the separation behavior of carriers (electrons and holes) because of involving the generation of superoxide radicals (O2− ), hydroxyl radicals (HO ), and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in the photocatalytic process of heteropolyacids. Instead, relatively little attention has been focused on the potential Coulomb interactions between photogenerated electrons (e−) and holes (h+). Herein, choline-phosphotungstic acid (Ch3-HPW) was synthesized via one-step acid-base neutralization reaction method, and characterized. The electronic excited state analysis of Ch3-HPW showed that the formation of singlet oxygen (1O2) was related to the electron-hole interactions in the photocatalytic process of ground state molecular oxygen (3O2) activation. Subsequently, a facile fuel photocatalytic oxidative desulfurization and extraction system was established on the basis of Ch3-HPW, air, and acetonitrile (MeCN), to better understand the 3O2 activation in specific applications. The main photocatalytic reaction conditions affecting the desulfurization process, including the amount of Ch3-HPW, the volume ratio of MeCN to model oil, the initial S-concentration, air/N2 bubbling, sulfur compounds, and fuel composition, were systematically investigated under UV radiation. The sulfur removal for model oil and straight-run gasoline in the system were 99.6% and 89.9%, respectively. The results of radical scavenger experiments, electron spin-resonance (ESR) spectroscopy, and density functional theory (DFT) calculations further demonstrated that 1O2, H2O2, and h+ played important roles in the oxidation of sulfur-containing compounds. A new method was developed for the desulfurization of liquid fuels using green and inexpensive O2 in this work to promote the development of photocatalytic process of exciton-involved HPA-based photocatalysts.

Shuang Li

Papers

Continuous synthesis of ethyl levulinate over Cerium exchanged phosphotungstic acid anchored on commercially silica gel pellets catalyst