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Advances in the Catalytic Conversion of Renewable Materials and Biomass to Sustainable Products and Energy

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2026 | Viewed by 687

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
CAS Key Laboratory of Science and Technology on Applied Catalysis, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, China
Interests: renewable fuels; high-value chemicals with lignocellulosic platform compounds

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Guest Editor
School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou, China
Interests: biomass

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The growing demand for sustainable energy and materials has driven research in the catalytic conversion of biomass and renewable feedstocks into sustainable products and energy. This Special Issue focuses on innovative catalytic strategies, including heterogeneous, homogeneous, and biocatalytic processes, as well as hybrid systems, for transforming lignocellulosic biomass, agricultural residues, and other renewable resources into fuels, chemicals, and functional materials. Contributions highlighting catalyst design, reaction mechanisms, process intensification, energy efficiency, and green chemistry approaches are particularly welcome. Studies addressing techno-economic analysis, life-cycle assessment, and scale-up challenges are also encouraged.

This Special Issue provides a platform for researchers and practitioners to share recent advances and emerging trends, ultimately promoting the development of sustainable catalytic technologies that support a circular bioeconomy and the production of environmentally friendly energy and high-value products.

Prof. Dr. Ning Li
Prof. Dr. Lingzhao Kong
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • catalysis
  • biomass conversion
  • renewable materials
  • sustainable energy
  • green chemistry
  • heterogeneous catalysis
  • process intensification
  • lignocellulosic biomass

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

11 pages, 2301 KB  
Article
Selective Dehydration of 1,3-Cyclopentanediol to Cyclopentadiene over Lanthanum Phosphate Catalysts
by Hao Liu, Xing Zhang, Xiannian Sun, Yu Cong and Ning Li
Catalysts 2025, 15(12), 1125; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal15121125 - 2 Dec 2025
Viewed by 502
Abstract
Cyclopentadiene is an important intermediate that is widely used in the production of useful chemicals, high-density aviation fuels and polymers. Conventional technologies for the production of cyclopentadiene from fossil energies suffer from low yield and selectivity. Therefore, the selective production of cyclopentadiene from [...] Read more.
Cyclopentadiene is an important intermediate that is widely used in the production of useful chemicals, high-density aviation fuels and polymers. Conventional technologies for the production of cyclopentadiene from fossil energies suffer from low yield and selectivity. Therefore, the selective production of cyclopentadiene from renewable biomass is highly expected. In this work, a series of metal phosphates were found to be effective solid acid catalysts for the selective synthesis of cyclopentadiene from the dehydration of 1,3-cyclopentanediol, a platform compound that can be obtained from the aqueous phase rearrangement of furfuryl alcohol followed by hydrogenation. Among the investigated catalysts, lanthanum phosphate (LaP) exhibited the best performance. Over it, 100% 1,3-cyclopentanediol conversion and higher than 90% carbon yield of cyclopentadiene were achieved at 473 K under atmospheric pressure. Based on the results of characterization, the excellent performance of LaP catalyst can be rationalized by its higher amount of acid sites and average pore size. Full article
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