Conversion of Biomass into Chemicals over Metal Catalysts

The catalytic conversion of biosourced feedstocks into chemicals in the presence of monometallic, multimetallic, and multifunctional catalysts is reviewed. An alternative value-chain based on one-pot processes starting from biopolymers or plant oils could be more effective for mass production and accelerate greatly the industrial development of chemicals and materials based on renewable carbon. Metals and supporting materials employed in conventional hydrocarbon processing and organic synthesis are often not adapted to convert biomass-derived feedstocks. Various challenges should be met for the design of catalysts employed in biomass processing. one of the major issues for the industrial development of the biomass-to-chemical value-chain is the need for catalytic systems and engineering processes able to cope with the presence of residual impurities of feedstocks that may poison the activity or modify the selectivity of metal catalysts.