The Production of Formic Acid from Polysaccharides and Biomass via One-pot Hydrolysis-Oxidation in the Presence of Mo-V-P Heteropoly Acid Catalyst

The aim of the work is to investigate the one-pot hydrolysis-oxidation of different lignocellulose feedstocks: hemicelluloses xylan and arabinogalactan as well as lignocellulose biomass (sulfate pulp, waste paper, silver grass and aspen wood). The target product of the process is formic acid. It is a valuable product which seems to be very perspective reducing agent or hydrogen source. The experiments have been carried out in the solutions of bifunctional Mo-V-P heteropoly acid catalyst which has the composition Co0.6H3.8PMo10V2O40. The yield of formic acid equal to 40-43 mol % has been reached from hemicelluloses at 90-120 degrees C. At temperature 150 degrees C the formic acid yields 53, 45, 29 and 24 m/m % have been achieved from aspen wood, silver grass, sulfate cellulose and waste paper, respectively.