Abstract:
Sustainable and eco-friendly catalytic processes for renewable
lignocellulose biomass conversion into liquid fuels and useful
chemicals offer solutions to minimize greenhouse gases
emission and associated negative climate impacts. Lignocellulose derived cellulose and hemicellulose can be converted into
platform chemicals including glucose, fructose, xylose, 5-
hydroxymethylfurfural, furfural, levulinic acid, levulinate esters,
etc. These platform chemicals can be subsequently converted
into liquid fuels and value-added chemicals using heterogeneous catalytic processes such as; oxidation, hydrogenation,
hydrogenolysis, etc. The catalytic transfer hydrogenation and
hydrogenolysis (CTH) over non-precious metal catalysts have
recently drawn considerable research interest. This review
summarizes recent progress on non-precious metals catalyzed
CTH processes, which also include photocatalysis and electrocatalysis, for the transformation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural,
furfural, levulinic acid, and, levulinate esters into furfuryl
alcohol, 2-methylfuran, 2,5-dimethylfuran, and, gamma-valerolactone; elucidate structure-function relationship and highlights
the underlying reaction mechanisms. This review is timely and
provides detailed fundamental insights about the nature of
active sites and CTH processes that will be useful for the
researchers willing to work in this exciting area.
