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Catalysts
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Catalytic Conversion of Biomass to Chemicals, 2nd Edition
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Catalytic Conversion of Biomass to Chemicals, 2nd Edition

A special issue of Catalysts (ISSN 2073-4344). This special issue belongs to the section "Biomass Catalysis".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2025) | Viewed by 2150

Editor

Dr. Xiaofeng Wang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Dalian Maritime University, Dalian 116026, China
Interests: biomass conversion; nanostructured catalyst design; environmental catalysis; hydrogenation reaction; selective catalytic reduction
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue is a continuation of the previous Special Issue, “Catalytic Conversion of Biomass to Chemicals”, following its great success.

In the last decade, the rapid depletion of fossil fuels has escalated the demand for renewable biomass as alternatives to chemicals and fuels. Lignocellulose, as the main component of biomass, consists of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. All these compounds can be catalytically converted to valuable chemicals and high-quality biofuel. Currently, considerable research efforts have been devoted to screening out efficient catalysts using specific model compounds as reaction substrates, which lay the foundation for the development of general catalysts for bio-oil upgrading. However, the complexity of bio-oil components and the repolymerization of phenolic compounds in thermal environments have augmented the difficulty of exploring efficient catalysts and related reaction mechanisms.

This Research Topic aims to highlight and collect the latest progress regarding novel nanostructured catalysts for the conversion of biomass and derivatives to valuable chemicals and biofuels. In this Special Issue, we welcome manuscripts related to the catalytic conversion of biomass and upgrading of bio-oil and model compounds. Topics of interest include but are not limited to the following:

  1. Hydrogenation/hydrogenolysis/hydrodeoxygenation of biomass and derivatives to biofuels and valuable chemicals;
  2. Catalytic oxidation of biomass and derivatives;
  3. Catalytic pyrolysis of biomass to bio-oil.

Dr. Xiaofeng Wang
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Catalysts is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • biomass conversion
  • hydrogenation
  • nanostructured catalysts
  • biomass derivatives
  • oxidation

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Related Special Issue

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 1592 KB  
Article
NiCoP: A Highly Active Catalyst for Hydrogenation of Ethyl Levulinate to γ-Valerolactone in Liquid Phase
by Yonggang Ji, Siqi Wang, Xiaolu Yuan, Yan Bing, Li Chen, Xuefeng Lu, Tan Zhao, Linfei Xiao and Yazhou Wang
Catalysts 2026, 16(1), 86; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal16010086 - 12 Jan 2026
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 935
Abstract
The hydrogenation of the biomass platform compound, ethyl levulinate, for the synthesis of γ-valerolactone represents a highly promising pathway for biomass valorization. Transition metal phosphates are extensively utilized in biomass hydrogenation reactions due to their Brønsted and Lewis acid sites. In this study, [...] Read more.
The hydrogenation of the biomass platform compound, ethyl levulinate, for the synthesis of γ-valerolactone represents a highly promising pathway for biomass valorization. Transition metal phosphates are extensively utilized in biomass hydrogenation reactions due to their Brønsted and Lewis acid sites. In this study, we synthesized a series of transition metal (Ni, Co, and NiCo) phosphide catalysts using the liquid phase method. We investigated the effects of metal species and initial Co/Ni molar ratios on catalytic activity in hydrogenation of ethyl levulinate and optimized the reaction conditions. The NiCoP-1.00 sample, prepared with a Co/Ni molar ratio of 1, demonstrated high efficacy in the hydrogenation of ethyl levulinate to γ-valerolactone, achieving excellent selectivity (97.9%) under optimized conditions. Experimental findings indicate that the synergistic interaction between Ni and Co facilitates the hydrogenation of the intermediate ethyl 4-hydroxypentanoate to γ-valerolactone while inhibiting excessive hydrogenation. The catalytic performance of the NiCoP-1.00 catalyst remained stable over five recycling runs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Catalytic Conversion of Biomass to Chemicals, 2nd Edition)
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15 pages, 4264 KB  
Article
Recyclable Magnetic Fe3O4-Supported Copper Oxide as Efficient Catalyst for Oxidation of 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural to 2,5-Furanediformic Acid
by Peng Yang, Hualei Hu, Yong Yang, Guojun Lan, Soliman I. El-Hout, Qianquan Fang, Guowen Lu, Chunlin Chen and Jian Zhang
Catalysts 2025, 15(12), 1120; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal15121120 - 1 Dec 2025
Viewed by 840
Abstract
The nano-metal oxide-catalyzed oxidation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) with sodium hypochlorite (NaClO) is an effective and mild technique for synthesizing 2,5-furanediformic acid (FDCA). However, the rapid and large-scale separation of nanocatalysts remains a major challenge. In this study, we developed a magnetic and recyclable [...] Read more.
The nano-metal oxide-catalyzed oxidation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) with sodium hypochlorite (NaClO) is an effective and mild technique for synthesizing 2,5-furanediformic acid (FDCA). However, the rapid and large-scale separation of nanocatalysts remains a major challenge. In this study, we developed a magnetic and recyclable copper oxide-based catalyst supported on the mechanochemically synthesized Fe3O4. Benefiting from the introduction of the Fe3O4 carrier and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) surfactant, the CuO-CTAB/Fe3O4 catalyst owns smaller CuO particle sizes, which endows it with excellent catalytic activity in the oxidation of HMF, achieving a high FDCA yield of 90.3%. Furthermore, the rapid magnetic separation of the catalyst effectively inhibits the excessive conversion of FDCA. The recovered catalyst can be reused for at least five cycles without significant loss of catalytic performance, confirming the promising application prospect of the CuO-CTAB/Fe3O4 catalyst. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Catalytic Conversion of Biomass to Chemicals, 2nd Edition)
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