Bio-derived Chemicals and Fuels: a scientific partnership between Venice and Sydney

The PhD cotutelle scheme between Venice and Sydney has allowed to couple research on green transformations of bio-based chemicals (including conversion mechanisms from platforms to their derivatives), with catalysts and processes for the improvement of bio-fuels (e.g. derived from algal feedstocks and by new technologies from lignocelluloses). Bio-based chemicals in Venice. In Venice, the reactivity of bio-based platform chemicals such as levulinic acid and C4-C5 lactones with organic carbonates has been studied. This was done with a view of obtaining higher value added chemical compounds by new greener broad-based chemical technologies. Bio-fuels in Sydney. In Sydney, on-water catalysis was applied to reduce the cloud point of biodiesel (the temperature at which crystals start to form in the fuel). This green innovative methodology was employed to carry out cycloadditions between fatty acids, constituents of biodiesel, and opportune bioderived dienes or dienophiles.