Catalytic technology for production of C4 chemicals via erythritol from biomass

C4 chemicals are one of building blocks in the petrochemical industry for production of polymers and so on. At present, C4 chemicals have been derived from naphtha, which will be decreased by the shift to gas industries. Therefore, the synthesis of C4 chemicals from biomass can be a promising method for the substitution of naphtha. It has been known that erythritol is produced by the fermentation of glucose and glycerol. At the same time, the dehydration of erythritol can give 1,4-anhydroerythritol in high yield. These suggest that erythritol and 1,4-anhydroerythritol can be utilized as biomass-derived C4 building blocks. Our group has been developed heterogeneous catalysts for the selective conversion of erythritol and 1,4-anhydroerythritol using H2 as a reductant to various C4 chemicals such as 1,4-, 1,2-, and 1,3-butanediols, butanols, butadiene and so on, where C-0 hydrogenolysis, deoxydehydration, etc. are catalyzed.