Microwave assisted conversion of microcrystalline cellulose into value added chemicals using dilute acid catalyst.

One of the grand challenges of this century is to transition fuels and chemicals production derived from fossil feedstocks to renewable feedstocks such as cellulosic biomass. Here we describe fast microwave conversion of microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) in water, with dilute acid catalyst to produce valuable platform chemicals. Single 10min microwave assisted treatment was able to convert >60% of MCC, with >50mol% yield of desirable products such as glucose, HMF, furfural and levulinic acid.