Complete Exploitation of Eucalyptus nitens: optimization of hydrothermal conversion of its cellulose fraction to levulinic acid and butyl levulinate

The purpose of the present work is the complete sustainable exploitation of Eucalyptus nitens biomass in the perspective of a circular economy. In this work, Eucalyptus nitens ADW (autohydrolysed-delignified sample) wood, obtained from a first autohydrolysis treatment of the starting biomass to remove and exploit hemicellulose and water-soluble extractives, followed by a second step of delignification on the resulting solid through the HCl-catalyzed acetic acid Acetosolv method, was employed. This cellulose-rich feedstock was used for the production of levulinic acid in water and butyl levulinate in n-butanol, in both cases by reaction in diluted acid medium, investigating and optimizing the main reaction parameters, e.g. temperature, reaction time and acid concentration.