Production of gamma-valerolactone from sugarcane bagasse over TiO2-supported platinum and acid-activated bentonite as a co-catalyst

Nowadays, biomass utilization has become the center of attention for researchers worldwide and is driven by the depletion of global petroleum supplies for the production of energy and valuable chemicals while easing the atmospheric CO 2 burden. We propose here a green strategy for transforming sugarcane bagasse into gamma-valerolactone (GVL), an attractive platform molecule that can be further converted into a variety of chemical derivatives for wide use in industrial applications. Our recent strategy involves the solid acid-catalyzed hydrothermal conversion of cellulose and hemicellulose derived from biomass to give an aqueous solution comprising levulinic acid (LA), followed by catalytic hydrogenation of LA to GVL. Native and acid-activated bentonites were used as solid acid catalysts to promote hydrothermal conversion of cellulose and hemicellulose. The maximum achievable yield of LA was 159.17 mg per gram of oven-dried biomass for 60 min reaction at 473.2 K in the presence of a 2% acid-activated bentonite catalyst. Catalytic hydrogenation reactions of LA to GVL over 1% Pt@TiO 2 and acid-activated bentonite as a co-catalyst were performed at temperatures of 393.2 – 473.2 K and residence times of 120 – 360 min. The combined solid catalyst gave an attractive performance with respect to LA conversion ( 100%) and GVL selectivity (95%) under milder reaction conditions in comparison to 1% Pt@TiO 2 without an acid co- catalyst. The spent catalyst could be reused for fi ve consecutive hydrogenation cycles with a marginal decrease in the catalytic activity and GVL selectivity. Coke formation was believed to be the main cause of catalyst poisoning and calcination of the spent catalyst under a stream of pure oxygen at 723.2 K was applied for removing coke deposits from the active catalyst sites, thus restoring the catalytic performanc

Production of gamma-valerolactone from sugarcane bagasse over Ti02-supported platinum and acid-activated bentonite as a co-catalyst

Nowadays, biomass utilization has become the center of attention for researchers worldwide and is driven by the depletion of global petroleum supplies for the production of energy and valuable chemicals while easing the atmospheric CO2 burden. We propose here a green strategy for transforming sugarcane bagasse into gamma-valerolactone (GVL), an attractive platform molecule that can be further converted into a variety of chemical derivatives for wide use in industrial applications. Our recent strategy involves the solid acid-catalyzed hydrothermal conversion of cellulose and hemicellulose derived from biomass to give an aqueous solution comprising levulinic acid (LA), followed by catalytic hydrogenation of LA to GVL. Native and acid-activated bentonites were used as solid acid catalysts to promote hydrothermal conversion of cellulose and hemicellulose. The maximum achievable yield of LA was 159.17 mg per gram of oven-dried biomass for 60 min reaction at 473.2 K in the presence of a 2% acid-activated bentonite catalyst. Catalytic hydrogenation reactions of LA to GVL over 1% Pt@TiO2 and acid-activated bentonite as a co-catalyst were performed at temperatures of 393.2 – 473.2 K and residence times of 120 – 360 min. The combined solid catalyst gave an attractive performance with respect to LA conversion (100%) and GVL selectivity (95%) under milder reaction conditions in comparison to 1% Pt@TiO2 without an acid cocatalyst. The spent catalyst could be reused for five consecutive hydrogenation cycles with a marginal decrease in the catalytic activity and GVL selectivity. Coke formation was believed to be the main cause of catalyst poisoning and calcination of the spent catalyst under a stream of pure oxygen at 723.2 K was applied for removing coke deposits from the active catalyst sites, thus restoring the catalytic performance

Cellulose nanocrystals from passion fruit peels waste as antibiotic drug carrier

Due to its excellent chemical and physical properties, cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) possess many potential advanced functional applications. In this study, CNC was extracted from natural product by hydrolyzing cellulose segment of passionfruit peels using sulphuric acid solution. The capability of CNC as drug carrier was tested toward tetracycline antibiotic. The drug loading processes were carried out at various pH (3-7) with the optimum uptake of tetracycline achieved at pH 3. The in vitro release of tetracycline drug was carried out in phosphoric buffer medium with two different pH conditions at 37 degrees C. The highest release of tetracycline (82.21%) was achieved at pH 7.2, while the lowest one (25.1%) was achieved at pH 2.1, where the release pattern follow a second order kinetic model. This study highlight the potential application of CNC derived from natural resources as drug carrier without harmful chemical excipients that comply with health safety, biocompatible, biodegradable. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved