Maximising opportunities in supercritical chemistry: the continuous conversion of levulinic acid to gamma-valerolactone in CO(2).

Richard A Bourne, James G Stevens, Jie Ke, Martyn Poliakoff

Index: Chem. Commun. (Camb.) (44) , 4632-4, (2007)

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Abstract

Phase behaviour is manipulated during the hydrogenation of aqueous levulinic acid in supercritical CO(2) to separate almost pure gamma-valerolactone from water and unreacted acid with reduced energy requirements compared to conventional processing.