Catalytic Production of Liquid Fuels from Biomass‐Derived Oxygenated Hydrocarbons: Catalytic Coupling at Multiple Length Scales

Abstract

The catalytic processing of biomass‐derived feedstocks to liquid fuels and chemical intermediates is complex and expensive. Therefore, conversion processes involving a limited number of reaction, separation, and purification steps are necessary. Coupling of catalytic processes has the potential to lead to the development of new processes, thereby improving the overall economics of biomass conversion. Functional coupling at the molecular scale has the potential to produce novel catalytic materials to replace homogeneous catalysts. Active site coupling of different sites within the same reactor can help reduce operating costs by combining sequential reactions in a single reactor. Chemical reaction coupling of heterogeneous and homogeneous reactions may lead to improvements in overall catalytic performance for liquid phase processes by enhancing surface reactions with liquid phase reactions. Finally, phase coupling leads to improvements in overall yield by improving the equilibrium conversion or by suppressing undesired side reactions.