a Herein, we report a remarkable finding that biomass oxidation to formic acid (FA) in water-organic biphasic reaction systems is far more selective than the same reaction in a monophasic aqueous media.While literature claims that the yield of FA from carbohydrates and biomass is limited to less than 68%, even for simple substrates such as glucose or glycerol, we demonstrate in this study that FA yields of up to 85% can be obtained from glucose. Using our biphasic reaction protocol, even raw lignocellulosic biomass, such as beech wood, leads to FA yields of 61%. This is realized by applying polyoxometalate H 8 PV 5 Mo 7 O 40 as a homogeneous catalyst, oxygen as the oxidant and water as the solvent in the presence of a long-chain primary alcohol as an in-situ extracting agent. The new, liquid-liquid biphasic operation opens a highly effective way to produce pure FA, a liquid syngas equivalent, from wood in a robust, integrated, and low-temperature process.

A detailed kinetic analysis of the selective catalytic oxidation of different biogenic model substrates to formic acid (OxFA process) is presented using two different polyoxometalate catalysts, HPA-2 (H 5 PV 2 Mo 10 O 40 ) and HPA-5 (H 8 PV 5 Mo 7 O 40 ). By using high oxygen pressures (30−60 bar) and temperatures of 80−90 °C in aqueous solution, we were able to investigate the rate-determining substrate oxidation step catalyzed by the oxidized form of the polyoxometalates (POMs) by keeping the concentration of the catalytic active species constant. Under these conditions, kinetic parameters like effective reaction order and reaction rate constants could be determined by the differential method for model substrates like glucose, fructose, sorbitol, and gluconic acid. Furthermore, kinetic experiments using the two different catalysts showed a different behavior for various functionalities within the carbon framework of the substrate with the tendency of higher reaction rates with the HPA-5 catalyst. This effect was more pronounced for disaccharides like cellobiose and sucrose than for monosaccharides. Finally, a detailed kinetic study for water-insoluble biomasses like beech and spruce wood showed differences in formic acid (FA) formation and product selectivities depending on the composition of the wood in terms of their ratios of lignin, cellulose, and hemicellulose.

A promising way to increase the methanol yields in CO2 hydrogenation significantly up to 60% by in situ sorption of methanol and water in alkali salt-doped ionic liquids (ILs) is demonstrated.