Biocell - Three step process for obtaining a liquid biofuel from cellulose consisting mainly of isomers of methylpyran and methyl tetrahydropyran using N alkyl imidazol chloride as solvent and catalyst

摘要

Three step process for obtaining liquid biofuels consisting mainly of isomers of methylpyran and methyl tetrahydropyran from cellulose, hemicelluloses or starch, using in a first step N alkyl imidazol chloride containing a slight excess of hydrochloric acid 37%. This mixture acts as a solvent and catalyst for dissolution and hydrolysis of cellulose and dehydration of glucose to isomers of hydroxymethyl pyranone (HMP).;In a second step the reaction mixture is mixed with a water solution of sodium chloride to increase the ionic strength, and to make possible an extraction with butanol, which otherwise is miscible with the ionic liquid reaction mixture. Butanol was found to be the best solvent for HMP under these conditions.;In a third step, the butanol extract is concentrated by distillation, and the concentrate is submitted to hydrogenation with gaseous hydrogen using palladium or platin catalysts on carbon or alumina.;The final mixture is separated from butanol by distillation.;By GCMS only one relevant product was obtained representing about 90% of final products. It was identified by NMR as 2-methyl pyran.