Sustainable production of drop-in butyric acid from bioderived poly(3-hydroxybutyrate)

A novel hydrogenolysis pathway is developed for producing butyric acid (BA) from bioderived poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB). The sustainable process exhibited obvious merits, including (1) one-pot reaction at mild temperature (e.g., 200 °C), (2) solvent- and catalyst-free system, (3) high yield (94 wt%) and purity (96%) of drop-in BA obtained. This work paves the way for sustainable production of BA with low-energy consumption and simple post-treatment.