Senior Investigators: Prof. James Dumesic (U. Wisc.), Prof. Karen Goldberg (U. Wash.), Prof. Michael Heinekey (U. Wash.), Prof. Susannah Scott (UCSB), Prof. Huimin Zhao (UI-UC).

In the US, the availability of non-food dry biomass is estimated at 1.3 billion tons annually, representing the energy equivalent of 3 billion barrels of liquid transportation fuel. Unlocking this natural resource could have major ramifications for both national security and global warming. One of the major biomass components suitable for feedstock use is carbohydrates. Unfortunately, the chemical catalysts developed for processing of petroleum-based feedstocks usually do not work well with carbohydrates. Thus, we are using a combined chemical, biochemical, and reaction engineering approach to the design of new catalytic transformations of carbohydrates for production of renewable chemicals and fuels. Specifically, we are investigating catalytic processes for selective transformations of carbohydrates to produce furfural, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), L-xylulose, and xylitol. We focus on mechanistic understanding of various chemical catalysts and biological catalysts with a goal of identifying the synergies between these different catalytic approaches and ultimately establishing a common framework for their applications to selective transformations of carbohydrates.