03 Green Reactions and Technologies for Biomass Valorisation

The fundamental principle of sustainability is that waste is not an old useless substance that needs to be disposed of, but is rather an important and multicomponent feedstock that can be exploited to produce new chemicals, materials and energy sources, thus re-entering the material cycle. Furthermore, the valorisation of waste must be done in a sustainable way, i.e. using environmental friendly technologies. These concepts have been the guidelines by which methods and chemical transformations have been conceived in this Thesis work. The Thesis is divided into five main sections. Chapter 1 introduces the reader to critical aspects of our society and the importance of a sustainable economic development through a Circular economy and the exploitation of biomass. In the four following chapters, the author explains the activity research carried out during the three years of PhD. Each section focuses on the development of novel green chemical technologies, based on the upgrading of platform chemicals derived from renewable feedstocks.

Lisa Cattelan achieved her bachelor degree in chemistry and her master degree in Sustainable chemistry and technologies at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. In 2014 she graduated cum laude with the thesis “Phosphonium methylcarbonates, ylide precursors for base- and halide-free Wittig reaction”, focused on the synthesis of a new phosphonium salt and on its use as masked ylide in sustainable Wittig reactions. She attended her PhD in a cotutelle program between Ca’ Foscari University, Università degli Studi di Trieste and the University of Sydney, at the Laboratory of Advanced Catalysis for Sustainability. Her research focused on biomass valorisation, in particular of glycerol and lignin derivatives, for the achievement of added value chemicals. She completed her PhD cum laude and in 2018 she moved to Sydney where she now works as Hub manager by the University of Sydney.