In this study, kinetics of formic acid-catalyzed xylose dehydration into furfural and furfural decomposition was investigated using batch experiments within a temperature range of 130−200 °C. Initial xylose and furfural concentrations up to 0.2 and 0.08 mol/L, respectively, were used. The room temperature pH of the formic acid catalyst solution was between 0.9 and 1.7. The kinetic model used was based on a specific acid catalysis model and included the prevailing hydrogen ion concentration in reaction conditions. The study showed that the modeling must account for other reactions for xylose besides dehydration into furfural. Moreover, the reactions between xylose intermediate and furfural play only a minor role. The study also showed that kinetic modeling of xylose and furfural decomposition reactions must take the uncatalyzed reaction in water solvent into account.

Kinetics of furfural degradation in a formic acid catalyst was studied, and it was found out that the overall order of the reaction changes with the amount of acid catalyst.

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The production of liquid fuels from lignocellulose-derived platform molecules has attracted much interest in recent years. Platform molecules mostly have a shorter carbon chain length, compared to liquid fuels, which have a typical chain length varying between 4 and 25 carbon atoms, whereas aviation and especially diesel fuel have a carbon chain length exceeding 10 carbon atoms. For this reason, some carbon chain length increase reactions are required. In this article, carbon chain length increase reactions are compared for typical lignocellulose-derived platform molecules. The focus is placed on the ability of the molecules to participate in self-condensation reactions in a controlled manner. Hydrogen plays a key role when producing fuels from platform molecules. Hydrotreatment is applied not only when converting the products from a carbon chain length increase reaction into hydrocarbons but also for modifying the functional groups of the model compounds and, thereby, their reactivity.

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