Valorizzazione di idrolizzati da cellulosa tramite catalisi eterogenea

The aim of the work is the valorization of lignocellulosic wastes, coming from paper industries, using heterogeneous catalysts to obtain more valuable products like fuels or hydrogen. Two steams with different compositions were producted by the depolymerization of cellulose in acidic conditions; the first was mostly made of glucose while the second one was composed of a stoichiometric 1:1 mixture of formic acid and levulinic acid. Another target of this project was to avoid noble metals from the catalytic system and develop an economic and robust catalyst. Cobalt catalysts for the APR of glucose and Ni catalyst for the valorization of the levulinic and formic mixture were chosen. Co was tested at different conditions and with different metals for test a beneficial effect of a bimetallic system for the aim of optimize the APR of glucose and the production of hydrogen. On the other hand the nickel catalyst was synthetized starting from an hydrotalcite that was then calcined and reduced in hydrogen flux in the way of obtain the active phase Ni0. This one was used for hydrogenate levulinc acid without external hydrogen, using just formic acid as hydrogen source, to produce GVL, a valuable green product used as fuel, solvent or monomer.