Department of Chemical Science and Engineering, School of Materials and Chemical Technology, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 4259-G1-14 Nagatsuta-cho, Midori-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa, 226-8502, Japan.
Department of Chemistry, School of Science, Kitasato University, 1-15-1 Kitasato, Minami-ku, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, 252-0373, Japan.
Sci Rep. 2017 Apr 12;7(1):855. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-00979-y.
Algal biomass has received attention as an alternative carbon resource owing not only to its high oil production efficiency but also, unlike corn starch, to its lack of demand in foods. However, algal residue is commonly discarded after the abstraction of oil. The utilization of the residue to produce chemicals will therefore increase the value of using algal biomass instead of fossil fuels. Here, we report the use of algal residue as a new carbon resource to produce important chemicals. The application of different homogeneous catalysts leads to the selective production of methyl levulinate or methyl lactate. These results demonstrate the successful development of new carbon resources as a solution for the depletion of fossil fuels.
藻类生物质作为一种替代碳资源受到了关注，不仅因为其产油效率高，而且与玉米淀粉不同的是，藻类生物质不会被用于食品行业。然而，在提取油之后，藻类残渣通常会被丢弃。因此，利用残渣生产化学品将提高利用藻类生物质代替化石燃料的价值。在这里，我们报告了利用藻类残渣作为一种新的碳资源来生产重要化学品的方法。不同均相催化剂的应用导致了甲基戊二酸酯或甲基乳酸酯的选择性生产。这些结果表明，成功开发新的碳资源是解决化石燃料枯竭问题的一种方法。
