Combination of Pretreatment and Thermochemical Conversion of Biomass Towards The Production of Two Platform Chemicals

This PhD thesis aims to investigate the thermochemical conversion of biomass to two high-value platform chemicals, Levoglucosenone (LGO) and 5-chloromethyl furfural (5-CMF), in a fluidized bed reactor. Multiple systematic stages were employed in this study to investigate the changes in biomass's physical and chemical properties, including pretreatment, characterization using synchrotron-based THz spectroscopy, and lab-based in-situ DRIFTS. Based on the observed conditions, a continuous fluidized bed reactor system was constructed to generate platform chemicals from pretreated biomass using hydrogen chloride acid-gas as a catalyst. Thermochemical reaction with acid gas produced 5-CMF and enhanced the content of LGO.