Renewable biomass is an ideal alternative for fossil resources to supply sustainable raw material for the production of biofuels and chemicals. 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF) is one of the top building-block chemicals from biomass according to the “Top Value Added Chemicals”proposed by the U.S. Department of Energy.It can be produced from hexoses, inulin, wood and other lignocellulosic biomass with catalysts. 5-HMF can be further converted into biochemicals and biofuels, such as PET plastics, 2,5-dimethylfuran and other liquid alkanes that can be used as transportation fuel.
Biomass group (http://brg.groups.xtbg.ac.cn/) at Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, synthesized six solid acid catalysts by carbonization and sulfonation of raw biomass materials for the production of 5-HMF. Carbonaceous catalysts were characterized by TG-DTA,13C MAS NMR, FT-IR, XRD, Raman, TPD and elemental analyzer. The production of 5-HMF was successfully demonstrated by the dehydration of fructose and glucose using lignin-derived solid acid catalyst in DMSO-[BMIM][Cl] (dimethyl sulfoxide and 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride) mixtures. It was found that lignin-derived solid acid catalyst (LCC) was the most active one in the dehydration of sugars. LCC coupled with microwave irradiation was used for the 5-HMF production, 84% 5-HMF yield with 98% fructose conversion rate was achieved at110 °C for 10 min. Furthermore, 99% glucose was converted with 68% 5-HMF yield under severer condition (160 °C for 50 min). LCC was recycled for five times, 5-HMF yield declined only 7%. It is concluded that LCC is an ideal catalyst for 5-HMF production, microwave and DMSO-[BMIM][Cl] can effectively promote the dehydration.
This work entitled “Conversion of fructose and glucose into 5-hydroxymethylfurfural with lignin-derived carbonaceous catalyst under microwave irradiation in dimethyl sulfoxide-ionic liquid mixtures” authored byFeng Guo and Zhen FANGwas published online in Bioresource Technology:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2012.02.108
