Microwave aided conversion of cellulose to glucose using polyoxometalate as catalyst

The viability of biorefining technology primarily depends on the facile cellulose conversion route with adequate conversion efficiency. Here we have demonstrated the microwave-assisted hydrolysis of cellulose to glucose using polyoxometalate (POM) clusters as acid catalysts. Two different types of POM, including Wells–Dawson and Keggin were justified as catalysts in the cellulose conversion process. In particular, the cellulose to glucose catalytic conversion using Wells–Dawson type POMs has not been reported to date. Also, even though there have been some previous reports about the catalytic biomass conversion of Keggin type POMs, the systematic study to optimize the conversion efficiency in terms of catalyst amount, reaction temperature, reaction time, and the amount of solvent is lacking. Under the experimental conditions employed, the Keggin-type catalyst showed higher cellulose conversion and glucose yield than the Wells–Dawson-type catalyst. Furthermore, the cellulose conversion efficiency and glucose yields were optimized by tuning the reaction conditions including temperature, reaction time, and the amount of solvent. Under optimized conditions, the Keggin-type POM catalyst shows a remarkably high glucose yield of 77.2% and a cellulose conversion of 90.1%. The unique complex properties of the POM catalyst, including being (i) strong acids with extremely high Brønsted and Lewis acidity and (ii) efficient microwave adsorbants which enhanced interaction between substrate and the catalyst can be attributed to the outstanding efficacy of the conversion process.