Our current society is highly dependent on non-renewable materials derived from fossil sources, which upon extraction and refining cause net green-house gas emission to the atmosphere, resulting in environmental issues such as climate change. Polymers represent ubiquitous products in daily life and constitute most of synthetic materials. The production of polymers from renewable biomass resources is possible, but technologies are immature for making these bio-based products commercial realities competitive with fossil-based materials.
The thesis explores processes for the conversion of biomass sources with solid zeolite catalysts into chemical building blocks useful for the production of polymeric materials. In particular, different sugars are used as starting substrates. The project also investigates the pathways for the transformation of sugars and the parameters affecting the productivity, achieving deep understanding of the studied reactions and optimized conditions. The parameters for the production of methyl lactate - the monomer of polylactic acid, the most common bio-based biodegradable plastic - starting from common sugars were optimized. Part of the thesis is dedicated to the study of the zeolite catalysts.
The synthesis of the catalytic materials is investigated, and the essential structural properties for obtaining high catalytic activity are elucidated. Finally, the project considers the production of a new bio-based product, methyl vinyl glycolate (MVG), obtainable from glycolaldehyde formed from sugars. The MVG molecule contains functionalities appropriate for representing a building block for the production of new bio-based polymeric materials.
In summary, the thesis provides important insight into existing and new processes for the conversion of renewable sources into chemical products, and conveys useful information for the development of technologies potentially replacing the refining of fossils.
Spectral region of the primary alcohols of 1H-13C HSQC spectra, signals of the different forms of methyl fructosides and methyl glucosides.