Lactic acid production from glucose over activated hydrotalcites as solid base catalysts in water

The catalytic production of lactic acid from biomass derivatives over solid base catalysts was studied for future sustainable societies. The activated hydrotalcites catalyzed the lactic acid production from D-glucose in flow reactors at 323 K under water media. The number of accessible Bronsted-base sites of hydrotalcite (Mg/Al = 2) activated at 723 K as determined by the ion-exchange method with sodium salts, based on the OH/Al ratio, was about 39% which was much higher than that of the hydrotalcite activated at 573 K. The catalytic activity for the lactic acid production showed a linear increase with the number of the Bronsted-base sites. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.