
258 Producing Fuels and Fine Chemicals from Biomass Using Nanomaterials
9.9.2 outlook of isosorbide
Despite the overall yield of isosorbide in the current homogeneous process, which
is already close to the theoretical maximum, further improvements of the catalysts
are highly sought after. The reason for this nding originates from the complexity of
the purication of this process. The common industrial practice is to perform a melt
crystallization, or less common, a high vacuum distillation. Both processes are very
expensive and reduction of impurities would result in considerable gains in process
costs (Table 9.15).
Isosorbide is already produced ...