Manufacturing of Caprolactone from the sugar platform

Important results from the project

Caprolactone can be produced from the sugar platform according to Sugar -> 5-HMF -> THFDM -> 1,2,6 hexantriol (HTO) -> 1,6-hexanediol (HD) -> Caprolactone. Given the multi-functionalities of 5-HMF, the major difficulty for the production of the promising monomers is how to selectively convert specific functional groups in the HMF. To keep the objective concise, 4 monomers was particularly important, including THFDM, BHMF, 1,2,6-HTO and 1,6-HD, which therefore were the primary focus in this project.

Expected long term effects

BHMF was formed by hydrogenation of the C=O bond in HMF. Our developed catalyst resulted in 95% yield of BHMF, with nearly 100% selectivity. The production of THFDM requires hydrogenation of the furan ring. Our catalyst exhibited excellent performance, with complete conversion of BHMF and over 95% selectivity to THFDM. Both 1,2,6-HTO and 1,6-HDO production requires ring opining reactions from THFDM. A conversion of over 70% of THDFM was observed with high selectivity of 1,2,6-HTO and 1,6-HDO.

Approach and implementation

In this project multiple catalysts have been synthesized for the different reactions. The catalysts have been thoroughly characterized using multiple techniques. The catalysts have thereafter been examined for the different reactions in a batch-reactor with high hydrogen pressure. The effect of different conditions such as temperature, pressure, concentrations and solvents have also been studied. The liquid phase was analyzed with GC/MS and NMR.