Patent ID: 8624043

Claim:
A method for converting glucose to pentanoic acid, the method comprising: (a) hydrolyzing glucose derived from any source in an aqueous, acid-catalyzed reaction to yield a product mixture comprising levulinic acid and formic acid; then (b) converting at least a portion of the formic acid present in the product mixture to H 2 and CO 2 without separating the levulinic acid and formic acid present in the product mixture; and (c) reducing at least a portion of the levulinic acid present in the product mixture to γ-valerolactone using the H 2 produced in step (b); and then (d) reducing at least a portion of the γ-valerolactone from step (c) to pentanoic acid in the presence H 2 produced from xylose or gasification.