Solid catalysts with unique porosity and nanoscale properties play a promising role for efficient valorization of biomass into sustainable advanced fuels and chemicals.

The production of drop‐in chemicals from bio‐based renewable sources is gaining a lot of momentum due to proven negative impact of fossil‐based economy on environment and society. In this Review, various bio‐derived platform molecules are assessed as renewable alternatives to fossil resources for the catalytic production of acrylates. Acrylic acid and its esters are key building blocks of a large number of high‐value oligomers and polymers in the current industry. In spite of the encouraging successes reported on gram or lab‐scale, real implementation of bio‐based examples remain scarce mainly due to the current high cost and limited availability of the bio‐based substrates. As lactic acid and their derivatives are one of the most promising feedstocks for bio‐acrylate production, they are the main focus of this Review.

Solid-state incorporation of Sn into beta (β) zeolites is a fast and efficient method to obtain Lewis acidic Snβ catalysts with high activity. The present work emphasizes the fundamental role of the heat-treatment atmosphere in the solidstate incorporation of active Sn in zeolites. Via an array of characterization tools including N 2 -physisorption, X-ray diffraction, diffuse reflectance UV−vis spectrocopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and 119 Sn Mossbauer spectroscopy, it is shown that preheating under an inert atmosphere (pre-pyrolysis) prior to air-calcination affords Snβ catalysts with the highest Sn dispersion and significantly less extra-framework SnO 2 compared to the classic calcination. In situ characterization during pre-pyrolysis by temperature-programed decomposition−mass spectrometry, thermogravimetric analysis, and 119 Sn Mossbauer spectroscopy reveals the in situ generation of Sn(II)O species that are more mobile than Sn(IV)O 2 species generated during calcination. This mobility property essentially enables the high Sn dispersion in Snβ. Based on this knowledge, active sites per catalyst weight are maximized while retaining high turn-over frequencies for the Baeyer−Villiger oxidation reaction (300 h −1 at 80 °C). For Lewis acid densities above 200 μmol•g −1 , the catalytic activity unexpectedly leveled off to 93 mM•h −1 , even under kinetic control. We tentatively ascribe the activity plateau to the incorporation of Sn in less favorable T-sites at high Sn-loadings.

growing body of literature recognizes the importance of a sustainable production of fuel (additives) 1-3 , chemicals and materials 4 from abundant and renewable lignocellulose 5,6 . Despite lignocellulose's high degree of functionality 7 , its conversion into alkanes can become an important alternative for bio-enrichment or the replacement of fossil-based alkanes 8 . The synthesis of identical molecules from an alternative biomass feedstock, instead of from crude oil, encompasses a promising strategy for the integration of bio-based carbon in the short term 9 . Integration of these technologies in an existing petrorefinery is, perhaps, the most straightforward and efficient way to proceed, but such synergies are currently immature.In line with rising concerns about fossil-derived CO 2 and climate change, objectives related to the implementation of renewable energy, including biofuels, have been put forward (Supplementary Note 1) 10 . The dependency of our current transportation market on diesel (C 10 -C 22 ), kerosene (C 8 -C 16 ) and gasoline (C 5 -C 12 ), certainly in the short-to-mid term, will still be high 11 . Therefore, the European Union for one, has targeted a market share of 10% for biofuels in transportation by 2020 12 , with a maximum of 7% from first-generation biomass 10 . Introducing renewable diesel as a dropin fuel, for instance, by Neste Oil, is one example to achieve these objectives. Nevertheless, the consumption of diesel, in contrast to that of gasoline, leads to a higher emission of particulate matter and NO x (for example, diesel exhaust emission scandals), a problem not solved by biodiesel replacement. Therefore, the importance of light fuels, such as gasoline, whether or not as an energy carrier in a future hybrid engine, will probably increase. Currently, gasoline, which is synthesized by blending different petrorefinery streams (for example, alkylate, isomerate and reformate) and light distillate feedstock, has an annual consumption of approximately 32 vol% of