Production of levulinic acid and alkyl levulinates: a process insight

The use of lignocellulosic biomass in the chemical industry has increased due to its non-competition with the food sector. Several platform molecules can be produced from this biomass. Among them, levulinic acid and its esters have been produced on an industrial scale. There are some reviews on the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Green chemistry : an international journal and green chemistry resource : GC 2022-01, Vol.24 (2), p.614-646
Main Authors: Di Menno Di Bucchianico, Daniele, Wang, Yanjun, Buvat, Jean-Christophe, Pan, Yong, Casson Moreno, Valeria, Leveneur, Sébastien
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acids
Biomass
Catalysis
Cellulose
Cellulose esters
Chemical engineering
Chemical industry
Chemical Sciences
Chemicals
Environmental aspects
Esterification
Esters
Furfural
Green chemistry
Hemicellulose
Levulinic acid
Lignocellulose
Monomers
Polymers
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Summary:The use of lignocellulosic biomass in the chemical industry has increased due to its non-competition with the food sector. Several platform molecules can be produced from this biomass. Among them, levulinic acid and its esters have been produced on an industrial scale. There are some reviews on the production of levulinic acid (LA) but few on the production of levulinates (LEs). To fill this gap, this review was written by also considering the environmental aspects. In the first stage, recent progress in the production of these platform chemicals was discussed. Production processes of alkyl levulinates from levulinic acid esterification, precursors (HMF, furfural, etc .), sugar monomers (glucose, fructose, etc .), cellulose, hemicellulose, or cellulose directly from lignocellulosic biomass were described. In the second stage, process separation and purification of LA and LEs were discussed. The final stage proposed an economic and environmental consideration for the production of these chemicals. We review the use of lignocellulosic biomass for the production of levulinic acid and levulinates. We consider the production processes and their environmental and economic impact.
ISSN:1463-9262
1463-9270
DOI:10.1039/d1gc02457d