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Sustainable Chemistry
Volume 2
Issue 4
10.3390/suschem2040036
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Article

A New Method for Solid Acid Catalyst Evaluation for Cellulose Hydrolysis

by
Maksim Tyufekchiev
1,
Jordan Finzel
1,
Ziyang Zhang
1,
Wenwen Yao
2,
Stephanie Sontgerath
1,
Christopher Skangos
1,
Pu Duan
3,
Klaus Schmidt-Rohr
3 and
Michael T. Timko
1,*
1
Department of Chemical Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 100 Institute Road, Worcester, MA 01609, USA
2
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 100 Institute Road, Worcester, MA 01609, USA
3
Department of Chemistry, Brandeis University, 415 South Street, Waltham, MA 02453, USA
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sustain. Chem. 2021, 2(4), 645-669; https://doi.org/10.3390/suschem2040036
Submission received: 11 October 2021 / Revised: 10 November 2021 / Accepted: 11 November 2021 / Published: 15 November 2021
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Abstract

A systematic and structure-agnostic method for identifying heterogeneous activity of solid acids for catalyzing cellulose hydrolysis is presented. The basis of the method is preparation of a supernatant liquid by exposing the solid acid to reaction conditions and subsequent use of the supernatant liquid as a cellulose hydrolysis catalyst to determine the effects of in situ generated homogeneous acid species. The method was applied to representative solid acid catalysts, including polymer-based, carbonaceous, inorganic, and bifunctional materials. In all cases, supernatant liquids produced from these catalysts exhibited catalytic activity for cellulose hydrolysis. Direct comparison of the activity of the solid acid catalysts and their supernatants could not provide unambiguous detection of heterogeneous catalysis. A reaction pathway kinetic model was used to evaluate potential false-negative interpretation of the supernatant liquid test and to differentiate heterogeneous from homogeneous effects on cellulose hydrolysis. Lastly, differences in the supernatant liquids obtained in the presence and absence of cellulose were evaluated to understand possibility of false-positive interpretation, using structural evidence from the used catalysts to gain a fresh understanding of reactant–catalyst interactions. While many solid acid catalysts have been proposed for cellulose hydrolysis, to our knowledge, this is the first effort to attempt to differentiate the effects of heterogeneous and homogeneous activities. The resulting supernatant liquid method should be used in all future attempts to design and develop solid acids for cellulose hydrolysis.
Keywords: biomass; cellulose; cellulose hydrolysis; solid acid; solid acid catalyst biomass; cellulose; cellulose hydrolysis; solid acid; solid acid catalyst

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MDPI and ACS Style

Tyufekchiev, M.; Finzel, J.; Zhang, Z.; Yao, W.; Sontgerath, S.; Skangos, C.; Duan, P.; Schmidt-Rohr, K.; Timko, M.T. A New Method for Solid Acid Catalyst Evaluation for Cellulose Hydrolysis. Sustain. Chem. 2021, 2, 645-669. https://doi.org/10.3390/suschem2040036

AMA Style

Tyufekchiev M, Finzel J, Zhang Z, Yao W, Sontgerath S, Skangos C, Duan P, Schmidt-Rohr K, Timko MT. A New Method for Solid Acid Catalyst Evaluation for Cellulose Hydrolysis. Sustainable Chemistry. 2021; 2(4):645-669. https://doi.org/10.3390/suschem2040036

Chicago/Turabian Style

Tyufekchiev, Maksim, Jordan Finzel, Ziyang Zhang, Wenwen Yao, Stephanie Sontgerath, Christopher Skangos, Pu Duan, Klaus Schmidt-Rohr, and Michael T. Timko. 2021. "A New Method for Solid Acid Catalyst Evaluation for Cellulose Hydrolysis" Sustainable Chemistry 2, no. 4: 645-669. https://doi.org/10.3390/suschem2040036

APA Style

Tyufekchiev, M., Finzel, J., Zhang, Z., Yao, W., Sontgerath, S., Skangos, C., Duan, P., Schmidt-Rohr, K., & Timko, M. T. (2021). A New Method for Solid Acid Catalyst Evaluation for Cellulose Hydrolysis. Sustainable Chemistry, 2(4), 645-669. https://doi.org/10.3390/suschem2040036

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