Ejaz Ahmad (editor) - Catalysis for clean energy and environmental sustainability. Volume 1, Biomass conversion and green chemistry

This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG

The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

Biomass conversion to value-added chemicals and fuels via green catalytic routes continues to be the most sought-after research topic worldwide. In this regard, an array of homogeneous catalysts such as mineral acids, ionic liquids, deep eutectic solvents, heterogeneous catalysts such as zeolites, metal oxides, metal-organic framework, noble metal catalysts, and a combination thereof have been employed and found useful. However, the successful commercialization of these catalytic materials is still a challenging task due to recyclability and scalability issues. Moreover, recent research is focused on developing green and eco-friendly catalytic materials for the production of clean energy and environmental sustainability. However, most of the data is scattered and presented in experimental articles, whereas a theoretical insight into the catalytic reaction mechanism and catalyst support interaction is missing. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to develop mechanistic insight into the product-selective catalytic processes for biomass and biomass-derived feedstock conversion. Accordingly, volume I of the book focuses on recent advances in catalytic materials and processes for biomass conversion and green chemistry.

Overall, volume I of the book consists of 27 chapters covering all the aspects of biomass conversion technologies and green chemistry that include high- and low-temperature processes for biomass conversion, bio-catalytic and chemo-catalytic routes for value-added chemicals production from biomass-derived platform chemicals, production of biopolymers, biochar production, and emerging technologies such as photocatalysis and biohydrometallurgy. Although an application-oriented approach towards understanding biomass conversion catalysis has been employed, the mechanistic and fundamental aspects of catalytic materials in hydrogenation, oxidation, dehydration, carbonylation, and esterification/etherification and other pertinent reactions have been discussed extensively. We understand that this book will serve as ready reference material on recent advances in biomass conversion and biofuels production technologies using green catalytic processes for young researchers and prominent scientists and academicians worldwide from chemical engineering, chemistry, biochemistry, biotechnology, mechanical engineering, and interdisciplinary areas of research.

The overall flow and content is the outcome of several rounds of discussion, reviews, and revisions. Therefore, the editors are highly indebted to all the reviewers for their precious time, thoughtful comments, and valuable suggestions without which it would not have been possible to reach this stage. The editors would also like to thank all the authors for their patience during several rounds of revisions and timely responses. The editors would also like to sincerely thank Springer Nature for timely publication of the book and highly indebted to the Springer Nature team members, especially Mr. Dinesh Vinayagam (Production Editor), Mr. Aaron Schiller, Mr. Joseph Quatela, and Ms. Amelie von Zumbusch, for their constant support throughout the process starting from proposal stage to final book publication. The editors would like to thank and acknowledge the support of their lab members Dr. Shireen Quereshi and Mr. Prashant Ram Jadhao for their backend work, follow up with contributors, maintaining the record of all the documents, and assistance in chapters review from the time of proposal to the publication of both the books. The editors are also highly indebted and obliged to their family members for their patience, care, and unconditional support to complete both the volumes of the book.