Reminder! The last seminar of the semester: April 12th All LORRE graduate students are expected to attend. Catalysts for Producing HMF from Cellulosic Biomass Barron Hewetson Removing carbohydrates from renewable plant material is the most challenging process in the production of platform chemicals, such as 5hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), from the structurally intertwined polysaccharides of lignocellulosic plant biomass. Lignocellulosic material is composed of three main components: lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose. Plant biomass fractionation is a vital step in the processing of any lignocellulose into value-added products and is often a result of a pretreatment process. Lignocellulosic material must undergo a pretreatment process to enhance the reactivity of cellulose. The hydrolysis of cellulose is important in fractionation because it liberates glucose, which can be converted to a wide range of fuels and chemicals of value. My research focuses on a cellulose solvent (85% w/w phosphoric acid) to remove and then recover cellulose from several plant biomass sources (corn stover, switchgrass, and poplar) and purified cellulose (Avicel). The resultant biomass is subjected to a conversion process where maleic acid hydrolyzes the cellulose to glucose, AlCl3 isomerizes the resultant glucose to fructose, and both acid catalysts dehydrate the fructose to HMF in a single reactor. The HMF is continuously extracted into 2-methyltetrahydrofuran (MTHF) in a 2-phase reactor. The results confirm that yields of HMF can be substantially increased by cellulose dissolution followed by a second hydrolysis using bi-functional Lewis/Bronsted acid catalysts to hydrolyze regenerated amorphous cellulose and dehydrate the resulting monosaccharides. Schedule for The Spring Semester Date Location Seminar January 18 Fu Room Titles and Abstracts February 1 Fu Room Isaac Emery February 15 Fu Room Xuan Li March 1 ADM Building Graduate Student Poster Symposium March 29 Fu Room Chia-Ling Wu April 12 Fu Room Mahdieh Aghazadeh April 26 Fu Room Barron Hewetson