Levulinic acid upgrade to γ-valerolactone by hydrogenation by using a bifunctional catalyst

Abstract

Lignocellulose is one of the most abundant raw materials on earth. It can be found in plants, forest wastes among others, and several products widely used can be obtained from it. Some industrial processes are implemented with this aim. Biofine process allows the production of levulinic acid (LA) from lignocellulosic biomass. Levulinic acid is considered a platform chemical to produce several biochemicals and biofuels. γ-Valerolactone (GVL) can be obtained from levulinic acid in a single reaction. In this project, some research about GVL synthesis from lignocellulosic biomass-derived levulinic acid has been done. The reaction of levulinic acid hydrogenation catalysed by a bifunctional ion-exchange resin loaded with palladium to produce γ-valerolactone has been carried out in a tubular fixed bed reactor. Kinetic and production studies were programmed but couldn’t be performed because the exceptional coronavirus scenario cut short the project. However, the facilities were set up and some previous runs of the reaction were done to check if the reaction took place with the catalyst chosen