Catalytic routes from biomass to fuels

The carbon-based chemicals and fuels that are necessary to meet the energy demand for our society originate presently almost exclusively from inexpensive fossil resources – coal, oil and natural gas. The forecast of diminishing and more expensive petroleum reserves has, however, engaged the chemical industry to find new feasible chemocatalytic routes to convert the components of lignocellulosic plant biomass (green biomass) as well as aquatic biomass (blue biomass) into potential platform chemicals that can replace the fossil based chemicals in order to leave the chemical supply and value chain unaffected. This presentation will survey the status of biofuels production from different sources, and discuss the sustainability of making transportation fuels from biomass. Furthermore, recently developed chemocatalytic technologies that allow efficient conversion of lignocellulosic biomass components into transportation fuels and fuel additives will be highlighted.