Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
3.3.6. Levulinic acid
Levulinic acid (C
5
H
8
O
3
) is formed by acid hydrolysis of C6 sugars and can be easily
converted to chemical derivates, thanks to its high reactivity: since it has both a ketone
carbonyl group and an acidic carboxyl group, it can react as a ketone and as a fatty acid.
Figure 9. A possible reaction mechanism of levulinic acid from C6 sugars via HMF (Hayes et al., 2006;
Timokhin et al., 1999).
A possible reaction mechanism for the production of levulinic acid from C6 sugars is
illustrated in Figure 9. Firstly, cellulose is hydrolyzed to C6 sugars and then levulinic acid is
obtained through hydroxymethylfuran (HMF) with an efficiency of 50% (Hayes et al., 2006).
Its main derivates are: methyltetrahydrofuran (MTHF, a fuel which can be obtained by
dehydratation and hydrogentation), δ-aminolevulinic acid (DALA, a herbicide which can be
produced after a chemical synthesis process), diphenolic acids (DA, a polymer constituent
coming out from the reaction of levulinic acid with phenols), ethyl levulinate (EL, a fuel
produced by the reaction with ethanol) and others (Bozell et al., 2000; Hayes et al., 2006).
