Effective Degradation of Cellulose by Microwave Irradiation in Alkaline Solution

The utilization of lignocellulosic biomass is effective to produce chemicals and fuels, which are of importance for the establishment of a sustainable society. The conversion of cellulose, which is the main component of the lignocellulosic biomass, into significant chemicals that can be further converted to different chemicals or fuels in the subsequent step, under gentle conditions is a promising route. Organic acids such as acetic acid, glycolic acid and formic acid are significant chemicals are examples of such products. A novel method to producing important platform chemicals from Micro-crystalline cellulose was developed. Micro-crystalline cellulose was degraded as a result of an oxidation with potassium chlorate by microwave radiation, in a one-pot procedure, efficient reaction conditions such as short reaction time and full conversion of the cellulose were identified. The reaction products have been analyzed by 1 H, 13 C NMR, XPS, TGA and XRD.