defence A. Hommes: "Catalytic transformation of biomass derivatives to value-added chemicals and fuels in microreactors"

Biomass is an abundantly available renewable carbon source with potential to (partially) replace fossil feedstocks for the production of chemicals and fuels. Although chemical and catalytic aspects of biomass transformations have been extensively reported up to this date, dedicated reactor engineering concepts are not widely examined yet. Continuous flow microreactors have received much research attention as a process intensification tool and may offer advantages for the catalytic conversion of biomass derivatives to value-added chemicals and fuels. In this thesis, the potential of microreactor technology for biomass transformations was assessed by investigating several case studies in different multiphase reaction systems. The application of microreactors in the lab had several advantages over conventional setups. By the regular multiphase flow profiles in microreactors, mass transfer characteristics could be determined accurately. This aided in the analysis of reaction characteristics. For certain reactions in the microreactor higher space time yields were obtained than in conventional reactors, making it promising for process intensification. However, more dedicated research is required before microreactors become feasible for the transformation of biomass derivatives to value-added chemicals and fuels on an industrial scale.

promotors: J. Yue and H.J. Heeres