Highly selective chemicals production by controlling pyrolysis reactions of cellulose crystals

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K14772
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Wood science
• Research Institution: Kyoto University
• Principal Investigator: Kawamoto Haruo 京都大学, エネルギー科学研究科, 准教授 (80224864)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 坂 志朗 京都大学, エネルギー科学研究科, 名誉教授 (50205697)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: セルロース / 熱分解 / 反応制御 / ケミカルス / 芳香族溶媒 / セルロース微結晶 / レボグルコサン / ヒドロキシメチルフルフラール

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Inhibition of the formation of solid carbonized substances during secondary degradation reactions would be quite effective for production of useful chemicals from biomass through pyrolysis. Cellulose is a composite material consisting of the crystallites with the diameter of ~10nm and decomposes from the surface of the crystallites in pyrolysis. In this study, aromatic solvents having polar substituents were found to penetrate into the space between crystallites effectively and control the secondary degradation reactions against complex carbonization reactions, which results in the effective production of levoglucosan and 5-HMF as useful chemicals. In addition, cellulose carbonization mechanism via 5-HMF was newly proposed.

Free Research Field

森林学・木質科学