New Intensification Strategies for the Direct Conversion of Real Biomass into Platform and Fine Chemicals: What Are the Main Improvable Key Aspects?
Nowadays, the solvothermal conversion of biomass has reached a good level of development, and now it is necessary to improve the process intensification, in order to boost its further growth on the industrial scale. Otherwise, most of these processes would be limited to the pilot scale or, even wors...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2020-08-01
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| Series: | Catalysts |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4344/10/9/961 |
| _version_ | 1797556257022803968 |
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| author | Claudia Antonetti Domenico Licursi Anna Maria Raspolli Galletti |
| author_facet | Claudia Antonetti Domenico Licursi Anna Maria Raspolli Galletti |
| author_sort | Claudia Antonetti |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Nowadays, the solvothermal conversion of biomass has reached a good level of development, and now it is necessary to improve the process intensification, in order to boost its further growth on the industrial scale. Otherwise, most of these processes would be limited to the pilot scale or, even worse, to exclusive academic investigations, intended as isolated applications for the development of new catalysts. For this purpose, it is necessary to improve the work-up technologies, combining, where possible, reaction/purification unit operations, and enhancing the feedstock/liquid ratio, thus improving the final concentration of the target product and reducing the work-up costs. Furthermore, it becomes decisive to reconsider more critically the choice of biomass, solvent(s), and catalysts, pursuing the biomass fractionation in its components and promoting one-pot cascade conversion routes. Screening and process optimization activities on a laboratory scale must be fast and functional to the flexibility of these processes, exploiting efficient reaction systems such as microwaves and/or ultrasounds, and using multivariate analysis for an integrated evaluation of the data. These upstream choices, which are mainly of the chemist’s responsibility, are fundamental and deeply interconnected with downstream engineering, economic, and legislative aspects, which are decisive for the real development of the process. In this Editorial, all these key issues will be discussed, in particular those aimed at the intensification of solvothermal processes, taking into account some real case studies, already developed on the industrial scale. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T17:00:15Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c6fb7ae928f7482faa41074c4601b7f8 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2073-4344 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T17:00:15Z |
| publishDate | 2020-08-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Catalysts |
| spelling | doaj.art-c6fb7ae928f7482faa41074c4601b7f82023-11-20T11:00:55ZengMDPI AGCatalysts2073-43442020-08-0110996110.3390/catal10090961New Intensification Strategies for the Direct Conversion of Real Biomass into Platform and Fine Chemicals: What Are the Main Improvable Key Aspects?Claudia Antonetti0Domenico Licursi1Anna Maria Raspolli Galletti2Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry, University of Pisa, Via Giuseppe Moruzzi 13, 56124 Pisa, ItalyDepartment of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry, University of Pisa, Via Giuseppe Moruzzi 13, 56124 Pisa, ItalyDepartment of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry, University of Pisa, Via Giuseppe Moruzzi 13, 56124 Pisa, ItalyNowadays, the solvothermal conversion of biomass has reached a good level of development, and now it is necessary to improve the process intensification, in order to boost its further growth on the industrial scale. Otherwise, most of these processes would be limited to the pilot scale or, even worse, to exclusive academic investigations, intended as isolated applications for the development of new catalysts. For this purpose, it is necessary to improve the work-up technologies, combining, where possible, reaction/purification unit operations, and enhancing the feedstock/liquid ratio, thus improving the final concentration of the target product and reducing the work-up costs. Furthermore, it becomes decisive to reconsider more critically the choice of biomass, solvent(s), and catalysts, pursuing the biomass fractionation in its components and promoting one-pot cascade conversion routes. Screening and process optimization activities on a laboratory scale must be fast and functional to the flexibility of these processes, exploiting efficient reaction systems such as microwaves and/or ultrasounds, and using multivariate analysis for an integrated evaluation of the data. These upstream choices, which are mainly of the chemist’s responsibility, are fundamental and deeply interconnected with downstream engineering, economic, and legislative aspects, which are decisive for the real development of the process. In this Editorial, all these key issues will be discussed, in particular those aimed at the intensification of solvothermal processes, taking into account some real case studies, already developed on the industrial scale.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4344/10/9/961process intensificationalcoholysishydrolysissolvothermal processalkyl levulinatelevulinic acid |
| spellingShingle | Claudia Antonetti Domenico Licursi Anna Maria Raspolli Galletti New Intensification Strategies for the Direct Conversion of Real Biomass into Platform and Fine Chemicals: What Are the Main Improvable Key Aspects? Catalysts process intensification alcoholysis hydrolysis solvothermal process alkyl levulinate levulinic acid |
| title | New Intensification Strategies for the Direct Conversion of Real Biomass into Platform and Fine Chemicals: What Are the Main Improvable Key Aspects? |
| title_full | New Intensification Strategies for the Direct Conversion of Real Biomass into Platform and Fine Chemicals: What Are the Main Improvable Key Aspects? |
| title_fullStr | New Intensification Strategies for the Direct Conversion of Real Biomass into Platform and Fine Chemicals: What Are the Main Improvable Key Aspects? |
| title_full_unstemmed | New Intensification Strategies for the Direct Conversion of Real Biomass into Platform and Fine Chemicals: What Are the Main Improvable Key Aspects? |
| title_short | New Intensification Strategies for the Direct Conversion of Real Biomass into Platform and Fine Chemicals: What Are the Main Improvable Key Aspects? |
| title_sort | new intensification strategies for the direct conversion of real biomass into platform and fine chemicals what are the main improvable key aspects |
| topic | process intensification alcoholysis hydrolysis solvothermal process alkyl levulinate levulinic acid |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4344/10/9/961 |
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