Metal–Organic Framework (MOF)-Derived Effective Solid Catalysts for Valorization of Lignocellulosic Biomass

Over the past decade, the development in the valorization of biomass technologies keeps increasing because the biomass utilization for manufacturing fine chemicals and fuels has diverse advantages over fossil feedstock. The review focuses on the utilization of metal–organic framework-derived (MOF-derived) materials as effective solid catalysts for the valorization of biomass into platform chemicals. MOFs compose of abundant organic ligands and metal cluster, and additional functional groups, could be modified on ligands (or metal clusters) serving as active sites. On the other hand, MOFs could also be converted into porous carbons or metal oxide composites by calcination at nitrogen or air, respectively, for catalytic reactions. These MOF-derived catalysts feature advantages like high specific surface area, porosity, and active sites from mother MOFs. More importantly, stronger interactions between guests (i.e., metal or alloy NPs) and hosts (i.e., MOF-derived carbons or metal oxides) make these catalysts more efficient than conventional catalysts where guests are deposited on hosts by impregnation. We summarize the studies of lignocellulosic biomass conversion including (1) dehydration of sugars such as glucose, fructose, and xylose into furans, (2) hydrogenation of furans into fine chemicals, and (3) sugars into sugar alcohols using MOF-derived catalysts. The challenges and prospective of MOF-derived materials applied in biomass conversion are also described.