title: Direct catalytic production of sorbitol from waste cellulosic materials.
abstract: Cotton wool, cotton textile, tissue paper and printing paper, all potential waste cellulosic materials, were directly converted to sorbitol using a Ru/CNT catalyst in the presence of H2and using only water as solvent, without any acids. Conversions up to 38% were attained for the raw substrates, with sorbitol yields below 10%. Ball-milling of the materials disrupted their crystallinity, allowing reaching 100% conversion of cotton wool, cotton textile and tissue paper after 4h, with sorbitol yields around 50%. Mix-milling these materials with the catalyst greatly enhanced their conversion rate, and the materials were efficiently converted to sorbitol with a yield around 50% in 2h. However, ball- and mix-milled printing paper presented a conversion of only 50% after 5h, with sorbitol yields of 7%. Amounts of sorbitol of 0.525, 0.511 and 0.559g could be obtained from 1g of cotton wool, cotton textile and tissue paper, respectively.
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Processos de Separação e Reação-Laboratório de Catálise e Materiais (LSRE-LCM), Departamento de Engenharia Química, Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade do Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal. Electronic address: lucilia@fe.up.pt.
authors.forename: Lucília Sousa
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Ribeiro
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Processos de Separação e Reação-Laboratório de Catálise e Materiais (LSRE-LCM), Departamento de Engenharia Química, Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade do Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal. Electronic address: jjmo@fe.up.pt.
authors.forename: José J de Melo
authors.initials: JJM
authors.lastname: Órfão
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Processos de Separação e Reação-Laboratório de Catálise e Materiais (LSRE-LCM), Departamento de Engenharia Química, Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade do Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal. Electronic address: fpereira@fe.up.pt.
authors.forename: Manuel Fernando Ribeiro
authors.initials: MFR
authors.lastname: Pereira
mesh_terms: D000388:Air; D001709:Biotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D002384:Catalysis; D002482:Cellulose / Q000737:chemistry*; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000737:chemistry; D013012:Sorbitol / Q000378:metabolism*; D013818:Thermogravimetry; D014025:Titanium / Q000494:pharmacology; D014866:Waste Products
chemical_list: D014866:Waste Products; C009495:titanium dioxide; D013012:Sorbitol; D002482:Cellulose; D014025:Titanium; D009584:Nitrogen
keywords: Biomass conversion; Cellulosic materials; Cotton; Paper; Sorbitol