Recently, the Guangzhou Energy Institute of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has successfully developed the Ni@C catalyst to realize the one-step celluloseto-ethanol conversion in the water phase to make a breakthrough in the area of chemical catalysis for manufacture of cellulosic ethanol.

The one-step aqueous phase conversion of cellulose to ethanol can be realized by using Ni@C catalyst, with the ethanol yield reaching as high as 69%. The mass fraction of ethanol obtained under the condition of high concentration cellulose reaction was up to 8.9%, which was equivalent to the theoretical yield of enzymolysisfermentation method. The research has found that the cyclic diester complexes, which are formed by H3PO4and the intermediate glucose originated from ethanol, can effectively activate the latter, and the C-C and C-O bonds in glucose molecules are precisely broken down under the interaction of negative charges on the surface of Ni@C catalyst with hydrogenolysis to produce ethanol. This study has realized the one-step conversion of cellulose to ethanol over the non-precious metal catalysts, which can provide a new route for the commercial production of cellulosic ethanol featuring high efficiency and low production cost.