Development of solid heteropolyacids for tandem reactions along the hemicellulose value chain

• Applicant: Dr. Anna Katharina Beine
• Subject Area: Technical Chemistry ; Solid State and Surface Chemistry, Material Synthesis
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 501103334

In times of climate change and diminishing fossil resources, the use of renewable carbon sources such as biomass is inevitable. In order to realize the necessary transformations with high selectivity, the implementation of tandem reactions is necessary, which combine acid catalyzed hydration/dehydration and metal catalyzed hydrogenation/dehydrogenation. In this way, unstable intermediates can be directly converted to more stable products and side-reactions can be avoided. This applies, for example, to the production of sugar alcohols from xylan, of furfurylalcohol from xylose or the production of 1,2-propanediol from glycerol. In the research project, a catalyst system consisting of a solid metal catalyst and a solid acid catalyst shall be developed, optimized and tested in tandem reactions along the hemicellulose value chain. The focus lies on the development of heterogenisation strategies for heteropolyacids, which are particularly well suited as catalysts for the investigated reactions. Since the stability of such immobilized catalysts is often low, the synthesized materials will be characterised in detail before and after the reaction to understand deactivation mechanisms. Subsequently, the synthesis strategy can be adapted to come to a competitive catalyst system.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants