Production of Levulinic Acid from Cellulose Catalyzed by Environmental-Friendly Catalyst

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Abstract
Using solid acid catalyst for the levulinic acid (LA) production from cellulose is one of the promising methods for utilization of biomass. An environmentally friendly solid acid catalyst, sulfated TiO2 was prepared by precipitation-impregnation method and used to catalyze the production of levulinic acid from cellulose. The concentration of sulphuric acid had a remarkable influence on the construction and catalytic activity of sulfated TiO2. The influence of reaction temperature and catalyst dosage on levulinic acid yield was also investigated with the aim to obtain the highest yield of LA. The optimum condition for the highest yield of levulinic acid (27.2%) was achieved at 240 °C, 0.7g of sulfated TiO2 and reaction time of 15 min. The recycling test indicated that the catalytic activity of the catalyst had a slight decrease after being used two times.