Biomass Conversion and Green Chemistry in Polymer Science II

A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Biomacromolecules, Biobased and Biodegradable Polymers".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 June 2024 | Viewed by 1266

Special Issue Editors

State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Green Pesticide and Agricultural Bioengineering, Key Laboratory of Green Pesticide and Agricultural Bioengineering, Ministry of Education, State Local Joint Engineering Laboratory for Comprehensive Utilization of Biomass, Center for R&D of Fine Chemicals, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, China
Interests: biomass conversion; bioenergy; environmental remediation; green catalysis; soild waste management
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School of Human Settlements and Civil Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China
Interests: biomass/waste utilization; life cycle assessment; techno-economic analysis; pyrolysis; 2D/3D materials
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Key Laboratory of Hunan Forest Products and Chemical Industry Engineering, Jishou University, Jishou 427000, China
Interests: biomass conversion; transfer hydrogenation; heterogeneous catalysis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
College of Biological, Chemical Science and Engineering, Jiaxing University, Jiaxing 314001, China
Interests: biomass conversion; heterogeneous catalysis; sustainable chemistry; multifunctional catalytic materials
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Lignocellulosic biomass, which is a type of low-cost, widespread, and renewable biopolymer, is the most abundant organic carbon source and has attracted a great deal of interest as a sustainable feedstock for producing valuable chemicals and biofuels in the presence of well-designed catalytic systems. Despite the great potential of bioderived molecule alternatives to petroleum-based products, the recalcitrant and crystalline structure of renewable biopolymers (e.g., chitosan, lipids, microalgae, and macroalgae) and relevant polymeric components (e.g., polysaccharide and lignin units) hinder their accessibility by either reagents or catalysts. In this regard, a great many efforts have been devoted to executing or facilitating biomass depolymerization and further upgrading processes to specific bioproducts via newly developed conversion routes or bio- and chemocatalytic strategies with high-efficiency functional catalytic materials.

Apart from renewable biomass-based organic carbon feedstocks, waste resources such as plastics and CO2 are also ideal raw materials for producing small molecules, complex organic compounds, functional materials, and liquid fuels. With respect to both biomass and waste valorization, thermo-, photo-, and electrocatalytic approaches have been demonstrated to be efficient and promising for practical applications. Attention is also placed on the improvement of the eco-friendly and clean characteristics of overall conversion processes as well as the explicit understanding of the involved reaction mechanisms. This Special Issue of Polymers invites contributions addressing recent advances or achievements in biomass and waste valorization, including, e.g., biomass pretreatment and depolymerization methods, catalytic strategies or reaction routes developed for biomass and waste conversion, appropriate design, and preparation of functional catalytic materials or polymers, characterization or analysis techniques, and theoretical calculation/simulation for catalytic mechanism elucidation, green conversion processes exploited for scale-up production, etc. The above list is only indicative and by no means exhaustive; recent research articles and reviews dedicated to the catalytic upgrading of renewable and waste resources are welcome.

Prof. Dr. Hu Li
Dr. Junqi Wang
Dr. Jian He
Dr. Hu Pan
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Polymers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • sustainable and bio-based polymers
  • biomass conversion
  • bioenergy and biofuels
  • waste valorization
  • green solvents/media
  • bio- and chemocatalytic processes
  • separation, recovery, and recycling
  • C1 (CO2) chemistry
  • thermo-, photo-, and electrocatalysis
  • bio-derived molecules

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

22 pages, 3918 KiB  
Review
Light-Driven Depolymerization of Cellulosic Biomass into Hydrocarbons
by Arvind Negi and Kavindra Kumar Kesari
Polymers 2023, 15(18), 3671; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym15183671 - 06 Sep 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 952
Abstract
Cellulose and hemicellulose are the main constituents of lignocellulosic biomass. Chemical derivatization of lignocellulosic biomass leads to a range of C5 and C6 organic compounds. These C5 and C6 compounds are valuable precursors (or fine chemicals) for developing sustainable chemical processes. Therefore, depolymerization [...] Read more.
Cellulose and hemicellulose are the main constituents of lignocellulosic biomass. Chemical derivatization of lignocellulosic biomass leads to a range of C5 and C6 organic compounds. These C5 and C6 compounds are valuable precursors (or fine chemicals) for developing sustainable chemical processes. Therefore, depolymerization of cellulose and hemicellulose is essential, leading to the development of various materials that have applications in biomaterial industries. However, most depolymerized processes for cellulose have limited success because of its structural quality: crystallinity, high hydrogen-bond networking, and mild solubility in organic and water. As a result, various chemical treatments, acidic (mineral or solid acids) and photocatalysis, have developed. One of the significant shortcomings of acidic treatment is that the requirement for high temperatures increases the commercial end cost (energy) and hampers product selectivity. For example, a catalyst with prolonged exposure to high temperatures damages the catalyst surface over time; therefore, it cannot be used for iterative cycles. Photocatalysts provide ample application to overcome such flaws as they do not require high temperatures to perform efficient catalysis. Various photocatalysts have shown efficient cellulosic biomass conversion into its C6 and C5 hydrocarbons and the production of hydrogen (as a green energy component). For example, TiO2-based photocatalysts are the most studied for biomass valorization. Herein, we discussed the feasibility of a photocatalyst with application to cellulosic biomass hydrolysis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomass Conversion and Green Chemistry in Polymer Science II)
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