A One-Step Process for Converting Biomass and Biomass-Derived Carbohydrates into DMTHF for Liquid Fuels

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By Green Car Congress on 05/04/2010 – 2:10 am PDT

A team at the University of Pennsylvania has developed a one-step process for converting hexose from a wide range of biomass-derived carbohydrates, cellulose and even raw lignocellulose (e.g., corn stover) into 2,5-dimethyltetrahydrofuran (DMTHF) in good yields and under mild conditions in water. A paper on the work by Weiran Yang and Ayusman Sen was published online 30 April in the journal ChemSusChem.

DMTHF is similar to DMF (2,5-dimethylfuran, earlier post) in terms of energy density (31.8 MJ L-1), volatility (bp 90–92 °C), and solubility (immiscible in water). However, because DMTHF is a saturated molecule it has good storage and transportation stability and is a better candidate for liquid fuel, Yang and Sen note.

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