Hydrothermal conversion of biomass into acetic acid

Hydrothermal process is one of the most promising processes for the conversion of biomass waste into resources among the several biomass conversion processes, because water of high temperature and high pressure has remarkable properties as a reaction medium. This paper described advances in our research involving overall reaction pathways for acetic acid production from biomass, mainly including (1) acetic acid production by controlling pathways of hydrothermal reaction, (2) acid-base behavior of water in the subcritical region and (3) effect of lignin on the acetic acid production in WO of lignocellulosic biomass. C 2006 Springer Science + Business Media, Inc.