Journal of Petroleum & Environmental Biotechnology

One-pot hydrogen-free conversion of biomass-derived substrates to liquid biofuels

World Congress on Petrochemistry and Chemical Engineering

November 18-20, 2013 Hilton San Antonio Airport, TX, USA

Todsapon Thananatthanachon

Scientific Tracks Abstracts: J Pet Environ Biotechnol

Abstract:

One-pot conversion of biomass-derived substrates such as sugar and 5-(hydroxymethyl)furfural (HMF) to an alternative liquid biofuel, 2,5-dimethylfuran were achieved catalytically using inexpensive heterogeneous Pd/C catalyst. The process creatively utilized formic acid as a hydrogen source, thus eliminating the use of expensive hydrogen gas. Furthermore, the reaction conditions were optimized to be mild (1 atm, 70 o C), comparatively to the current technology. Recent progress on the conversion of biomass using novel homogeneous metal-pincer catalysts will also be discussed

Biography :

Todsapon Thananatthanachon obtained his Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry from Washington University in St. Louis, and then went on to complete his postdoctoral study at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is current an assistant professor in inorganic chemistry at University of Evansville where he teaches and conducts research in organometallic chemistry, green chemistry and catalysis