Carbohydrates, transformation into fuel

Our research has established a clean fractionation of biomass carbohydrate polymers into monomeric polyols which serve as a new alternative sugar platform. Polyols are obtained from biomass by chemical means, rather than by enzymatic degradation, and are further transformed by chemical means into quality fuels and other chemicals. 

Controlled Transformations of Carbohydrates into Hydrocarbon Fuels... 

Compared to carbohydrate feedstocks, fewer studies have addressed the controlled transformation of lignin into potential fuel compounds. Zakzeski et al. published a comprehensive review summarizing the literature outlining the utilization of catalysts in the production of value-added products from lignin [110]. 

Apparently, even when the stores of it are low, carbohydrate is used preferentially for the combustions following exercise. It is probable indeed that muscles really oxidize directly no fuel except sugar, and that other substances are oxidized only after transformation elsewhere, for example in the liver, into sugar. This, however, is a highly technical and hotly debated matter at present and justice cannot be done to it here. ... 

The main idea behind the production of biofuels is to capture the energy of the Sun in the form of chemical energy contained in various chemical compounds. The plants transform the energy of the Sun into potential (chemical) energy of carbohydrates or fatty acids, which are then further processed to obtain the fuel with desirable properties. 

A variety of catalytic routes have been described in recent years for the chemical transformation of carbohydrates into hydrocarbon liquid fuels and oxygenated biofuels which wiU be discussed in this chapter. Special focus will be brought to the recent progress of integrated processes based on the use of multifunctional catalytic systems without isolation of the platform intermediates. Fig. 13.1 summarizes the main chemical routes for the conversion of cellulosic platform molecules into high-energy-density biofuels. 

Plants then use the protons and electrons that are produced in this reaction to transform carbon dioxide into carbohydrates. In other words, the plants are converting energy from sunlight into chemical fuel. 

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