Abstract
Diminishing fossil fuel reserves and global warming issues are driving society toward the search for new renewable sources of energy . Lignocellulosic can significantly displace petroleum in the production of fuels . Oxygenated fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel currently dominate the fuel market although they have important limitations. The production of liquid hydrocarbon fuels from biomass is a paradigmatic transformation allowing the production of fuels chemically identical to those currently used in the transportation sector. The present chapter describes some of the catalytic strategies used to transform biomass-derived molecules into liquid hydrocarbon fuels. These strategies are first focused on decreasing the oxygen content of the original molecule such that its reactivity can be more easily controlled. In a subsequent step, the less oxygenated intermediates are upgraded via C–C coupling reactions to increase the length chain to produce a final product suitable for diesel and jet fuel applications. The present chapter offers a number of examples on biomass-derived acids such as lactic and levulinic acids and biomass sugars such as glucose catalytically transformed into liquid hydrocarbon fuels.
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Serrano-Ruiz, J.C. (2017). Biomass Conversion Technologies: Catalytic Conversion Technologies. In: Rabaçal, M., Ferreira, A., Silva, C., Costa, M. (eds) Biorefineries. Lecture Notes in Energy, vol 57. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48288-0_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48288-0_5
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