Selective catalytic hydrogenation of cellulose into sorbitol with Ru-based catalysts

Sorbitol is one of the platform chemicals and can be produced from various renewable and sustainable sources via different processes. Hydrothermal liquefaction is an effective and promising approach to produce sorbitol, since the subcritical reaction media and appropriate catalysts provide a selective production of platform chemicals. In this study, sorbitol was produced from different renewable sources (cellulose and glucose) in the presence of Ru-based catalysts (Ru/SiO2, Ru/AC, Ru/SBA-15, and Ru/SBA-15-SO3) under subcritical conditions. The highest cellulose conversion was achieved as 90% in the presence of Ru/SBA-15-SO3 for 1 h of reaction duration. The highest sorbitol yield (%) by hydrothermal liquefaction of cellulose was obtained as 6.2% by using Ru/AC for 1 h of reaction duration. A total of 99.9% of glucose conversion was achieved in the presence of all catalysts. The highest sorbitol yield (%) by hydrothermal liquefaction of glucose was found as 3.8% for 1 h of reaction duration. Owing to the results of GC-MS analysis, the intermediate products were identified, and, thus, a reaction pathway was proposed.