Exploiting the Synergetic Behavior of PtPd Bimetallic Catalysts in the Selective Hydrogenation of Glucose and Furfural

Strengthening the Connection between Science, Society and Environment to Develop Future French and European Bioeconomies: Cutting-Edge Research of VAALBIO Team at UCCS

The development of the future French and European bioeconomies will involve developing new green chemical processes in which catalytic transformations are key. The VAALBIO team (valorization of alkanes and biomass) of the UCCS laboratory (Unité de Catalyse et Chimie du Solide) are working on various catalytic processes, either developing new catalysts and/or designing the whole catalytic processes. Our research is focused on both the fundamental and applied aspects of the processes. Through this review paper, we demonstrate the main topics developed by our team focusing mostly on oxygen- and hydrogen-related processes as well as on green hydrogen production and hybrid catalysis. The social impacts of the bioeconomy are also discussed applying the concept of the institutional compass.

Catalytic valorization of biomass for furfuryl alcohol by novel deep eutectic solvent-silica chemocatalyst and newly constructed reductase biocatalyst

Chemoenzymatic cascade catalysis using deep eutectic solvent-silica heterogeneous catalyst and reductase biocatalyst was constructed for synthesizing furfuryl alcohol from biomass in one-pot manner. A novel heterogeneous catalyst B:LA-SG(SiO₂) was firstly prepared by immobilizing deep eutectic solvent Betaine:Lactic acid on silica with sol-gel method using tetraethyl orthosilicate as silicon source. High furfural yield (45.3%) was achieved from corncob with B:LA-SG(SiO₂) catalyst (2.5 wt%) in water at 170 ˚C for 0.5 h. Possible catalytic mechanism for converting biomass into furfural was proposed. Moreover, one newly constructed recombinant E. coli KF2021 cells containing formate dehydrogenase and reductase was utilized to transform corncob-valorized furfural into furfuralcohol at 97.7% yield at pH 7.5 and 40 ˚C via HCOONa-driven coenzyme regeneration. Such a hybrid process was constructed for tandem chemocatalysis and biocatalysis in a same reactor, potentially reducing the operation cost, which had potential application for valorization of biomass to value-added furans.

Efficient Valorization of Sugarcane Bagasse into Furfurylamine in Benign Deep Eutectic Solvent ChCl:Gly-Water

Recently, highly efficient production of valuable furan-based chemicals from available and renewable lignocellulosic biomass has attracted more and more attention via a chemoenzymatic route in an environmentally friendly reaction system. In this work, the feasibility of chemoenzymatically catalyzing sugarcane bagasse into furfurylamine with heterogeneous catalyst and ω-transaminase biocatalyst was developed in the deep eutectic solvent (DES) ChCl:Gly-water. Sulfonated Al-Laubanite was firstly synthesized to catalyze sugarcane bagasse to furfural. SEM, BET, XRD, and FT-IR were used to characterize Al-Laubanite. Catalyst Al-Laubanite structure was significantly different from carrier laubanite. High furfural yield (60.9%) was achieved by catalyzing sugarcane bagasse in 20 min at 170 ℃ and pH 1.0 by Al-Laubanite (2.4 wt%) in the presence of ChCl:Gly (20 wt%). Potential catalytic mechanism was proposed under the optimized catalytic condition. In addition, one recombinant E. coli CV harboring ω-transaminase could completely transform biomass-derived furfural to furfurylamine at 40 °C and pH 7.5 using L-alanine as amine donor in ChCl:Gly-water (20:80, wt:wt). This established chemoenzymatic cascade reaction strategy was successfully utilized for valorization of biomass into furan-based chemicals in the benign ChCl:Gly-water system.