KINETIC STUDY ON GLUCOSE TRANSFORMATION TO ETHYLENE GLYCOL - PART I: RETRO-ALDOL CONDENSATION

摘要

Catalytic transformation of cellulose into chemicals is an important way to the efficient utilization of biomass. Among others, the one-pot catalytic conversion of cellulose into ethylene glycol (EG) is one of the most interesting processes attributed to the high efficiency of tungsten-based catalysts (EG yield was up to 75%) and the huge market of EG (～ 20 million tonnes per year) as the monomer in the plastic industry. This new process was discovered by our group in 2008. In spite of the continuous progress towards the understanding of the reaction mechanism, the reaction kinetics is still a great challenge owing to the complicated nature of the consecutive reactions and the difficulties in identifying various intermediates.