Petroleum based production of chemicals is unsustainable based on its dependency on non-renewable fossil fuels. Due to this, there is an increasing demand to develop new biobased processes that use platform chemicals derived from renewable feedstock. Levulinic acid has been identified as a key value-added chemical from biomass. Thus, in this study, levulinic acid was used as a building block to produce a C5 diol, 1,4-Pentanediol. 1,4-Pentanediol can be used to manufacture polyesters. Production of this C5 diol has been developed using chemical methods with either low yield, non-reusable catalysts, or harsh acids. To this date, there is no complete biosynthetic pathway, from levulinic acid to 1,4-pentanediol, that has been identified. A three-step, biosynthetic process has been developed and optimized in this study.
