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Abstract

In this introduction, a general overview of the role of biomass as an alternative
source of chemicals
and fuels
will be
given. In particular, the contribution of the cluster of excellence “Tailor Made Fuel from Biomass (TMFB)” will be
briefly described.
Levulinic acid (LA) has been identified by the
cluster as an important intermediate for the production of biofuels. Thus,
after pointing out the
importance of LA, an
extensive
overview as well as a general assessment of the existing processes for
its production from biomass feedstock
will be
provided.
The focus
lies
on
the applied
homogeneous
and heterogeneous catalysts for this transformation. Specifically,
sulfonated graphene oxide (GO) seemed as a potential highly
active catalyst. Therefore, an overview of the synthesis methods and the physical and chemical properties of this kind of catalysts will be given.
Subsequently, the further
conversion of LA to a potential biofuel,
γ-valerolactone
(GVL),
will be
introduced. Here,
a
summary
of the state of the art of supported metal catalysts applied in this transformation as well as the
limitations
related to their use will be
provided.
In this thesis, supported Pt and Pd nanocatalysts were
applied for the hydrogenation of LA. Therefore, the importance of these precious metals in catalysis
will be
first summarized. Second, a general overview of the synthesis methods of supported nanoparticles in liquid and gas phases
and their limitations will be
provided. Finally, an alternative
synthesis method using supercritical fluids, the so-called “Chemical Fluid Deposition (CFD)” will be
introduced. At the end of this chapter, the
thesis
structure will be
given.