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Cover Picture: Towards the Efficient, Total Glycan Utilization of Biomass (ChemSusChem 5/2009)
Author(s) -
Mascal Mark,
Nikitin Edward B.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
chemsuschem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Reports
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.412
H-Index - 157
eISSN - 1864-564X
pISSN - 1864-5631
DOI - 10.1002/cssc.200990017
Subject(s) - biomass (ecology) , furfural , levulinic acid , miscanthus , pulp and paper industry , biofuel , raw material , biomass to liquid , chemistry , waste management , organic chemistry , environmental science , bioenergy , engineering , catalysis , agronomy , biology
The cover picture shows common sources of waste biomass (agricultural, municipal, forestry) being processed into a mixture of substituted furans in the biomass digester described by M. Mascal and E. B. Nikitin in their Communication on page 423. The method is remarkably simple and is based on a biphasic reactor incorporating a solvent extraction loop. Isolated product yields from raw biomass approach 90 % of the theoretical, from which can be derived new generation “furanoline” biofuels such as 5‐ethoxymethylfurfural and 5‐methylfurfural, as well as the value‐added products furfural and levulinic acid (picture courtesy of Gorkem Gunbas, Department of Chemistry, UC Davis).