Reductive catalytic routes towards sustainable production of hydrogen, fuels and chemicals from biomass derived polyols

Biomass derived polyols represent one of the most attractive resources for modern bio-refineries that need renewable feedstocks directly convertible into chemicals, biofuels and energy carriers. In the past two decades, the reductive catalytic conversion of polyols via hydrogenation, dehydrogenation, hydrogenolysis and aqueous phase reforming processes has received more and more attention allowing the sustainable production of important products such as glycols, alkanes and H2. In this contribution, the state of the art in the processing of biomass derived C6 and C5 polyols, namely sorbitol and xylitol, to produce added value chemicals, fuels and energy (H2) is reviewed highlighting the most reliable and promising catalytic systems used so far merging, at the same time, the reaction conditions adopted for obtaining a target products. The final aim is to provide a simple and comprehensive guide to academic and industrial researchers for the development of both the future generation of catalysts and greener chemical processes to be used in the valorization of biomass derived sorbitol and xylitol.