Efficient catalytic production of biomass-derived levulinic acid over phosphotungstic acid in deep eutectic solvent

A feasible approach to convert glucose and cellulose to levulinic acid applying phosphotungstic acid as catalyst in deep eutectic solvent was proposed. In our study, phosphotungstic acid was considered to be an effective catalyst for levulinic acid production. A considerable yield of levulinic acid (98.9 %) from glucose was achieved using 30 g/L phosphotungstic acid as catalyst at 468 K for 80 min. The peak levulinic acid yield from cellulose was 88.6 % for 120 min at the present temperature and phosphotungstic acid concentration. The reaction system exhibits efficient performance for the conversion of glucose and cellulose, which was due to the combation of phosphotungstic acid and deep eutectic solvent enhanced the levulinic acid production. Additionally, the kinetic study of levulinic acid formation from cellulose was investigated to supply a further insight on the whole biorefining process. The kinetic model agreed with the experiment data well. The activation energy for levulinic acid formation was 47.2 kJ/mol, which obtained from a modified Arrhenius equation.