A Study on Catalytic Conversion of Non-Food Biomass into Chemicals

The topic of this thesis is catalytic conversion ofnon-food, abundant, and renewable biomass such as cellulose and chitin tochemicals.

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The topic of this thesis is catalytic conversion of
non-food, abundant, and renewable biomass such as cellulose and chitin to
chemicals. In biorefinery, chemical transformation of polymers to valuable
compounds has attracted worldwide interest for building sustainable societies.
First, the current situation of this hot research area has been summarized well
in the general introduction of the thesis, which helps readers to become
familiar with this topic. Next, the author explains high-yielding production of
glucose from cellulose by using an alkali-activated carbon as a catalyst,
resulting in a yield of glucose as high as 88%, which is one of the highest
yields ever reported. The characterization of carbon materials has indicated
that weak acid sites on the catalyst promote the reaction, which is markedly
different from reported catalytic systems that require strong acids. In
addition, the first catalytic transformation of chitin with retention of N-acetyl groups has been developed. The
combination of mechanocatalytic hydrolysis and thermal solvolysis enables the
production of N-acetylated monomers in
good yields of up to 70%. The catalytic systems demonstrated in this thesis are
unique in the fields of both chemistry and chemical engineering, and their high
efficiencies can contribute to green and sustainable chemistry in the future.
Meanwhile, mechanistic studies based on characterization, thermodynamics,
kinetics, and model reactions have also been performed to reveal the roles of
catalysts during the reactions. The results will be helpful for readers to
design and develop new catalysts and reaction systems.