H 2 O

1. Bifunctional Catalyst Efficiently Converts Cellulose intoSoluble Renewable FeedstocksNelson Cardona-Martinez, University of Puerto Rico Mayaguea, DMR 0934115 The energy content of the world’s standing terrestrial biomass carbon (i.e., the renewable, above-ground biomass that could be harvested and potentially used as an energy resource) is estimated as approximately 100 times the world’s total annual energy consumption.1 H2O Glucose Catalytic function 1 Catalytic function 2 H2 Cellulose Sorbitol Catalytic processes developed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.2 Porous silica with acid and metallic catalytic functions. The catalytic conversion of lignocellulosicbiomass into intermediates that can be used to produce fuels and high-value chemicals, as well as substitutes for petroleum-based feedstocks in an integrated biorefinery, is a novel technology that can help meet the growing energy demand while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Liquid transportation fuels Gasoline, Diesel, Jet Fuels We have developed mesoporous silica materials with both metallic catalytic function and acidic catalytic function for the catalytic conversion of cellulose into sugar alcohols. Our best catalyst initially converts more than twice cellulose and displays almost twice the selectivity towards sugar alcohols at our reaction conditions than Ru/C, which was the best catalyst reported to date in the literature. The two main products glucose and sorbitol may be readily transformed into liquid transportation fuels such as gasoline, diesel or jet fuels using catalytic processes developed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.2 This project was funded by NSF Awards DMR-0934115 and HRD-0833112.