Biomass to fuels: The role of zeolite and mesoporous materials

Biomass is an abundant and carbon-neutral renewable energy resource for the production of biofuels, moving the market dependence away from fossil-based energy sources. The main problem is how to efficiently remove the abundant oxygen content from biomass-derived products and convert it into a hydrophobic molecule with the appropriate combustion or chemical properties. Many efforts have been devoted to the search of heterogeneous catalytic systems, more selective, safe and environmentally friendly. In this scenario zeolites and mesoporous compounds may help chemists to develop new biofuel generation processes. The development of new catalysts in the field of conversion of biomass to biofuels requires knowledge of the complex nature of the substrates to be converted. Starting from the main chemical aspects of the different biomass platforms, an overview of some of the zeolite and mesoporous materials technologies currently used commercially or tested at pilot and laboratory scale, is presented in this paper. (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.