Heterogeneous acid-catalyzed hydrolysis of cellulose

With the world's focus on reducing our dependency on fossil fuel resources, one of the challenges will be the development of efficient catalysts for selective transformation of cellulosic biomass. Hydrolysis of cellulose to glucose is a key technology for effective use of lignocellulose because glucose can be efficiently converted into various chemicals, biofuels, foods, and medicines. Thus far, substantial efforts have been devoted to the degradation of cellulose but these processes have significant drawbacks. Some of these problems can potentially be overcome with the application of solid acid catalysts. In this paper, recent studies on heterogeneous acid-catalyzed hydrolysis of cellulose are summarized.