Furfural Production Under Subcritical Alcohol Conditions: Effect of Reaction Temperature, Time, and Types of Alcohol

Abstract

Oil palm fronds (OPF) are potential resources for production of biomass-based chemicals such as furfural, levulinic acid, and 5-HMF due to its large abundance. Although there are various conventional methods for biomass conversion, they suffer from low yields as well as extreme reaction severity due to the usage of mineral acids as catalyst. A new method using subcritical alcohol can be an alternative. Hence, the aim of this study is to determine the feasibility of using subcritical alcohol for furfural production from OPF. The study will also determine the effect of reaction parameters such as reaction temperature, time, and types of alcohol towards the yield. From the study, it is concluded that high furfural yield can be achieved at milder temperature and moderate reaction time under subcritical conditions. The yield obtained is comparable with other conventional methods indicating that subcritical alcohol technology has the potential for furfural production.

ESR Estimation of Lignin Structure of Japanese Cedar Pulverized Using a Vibration Mill with Ring Media

“…However, improved development of pretreatment is necessary to achieve energy conservation and high productivity because lignocellulosic biomass has a recalcitrant structure, with hemicellulose and lignin bound tightly to cellulose 2) 3) . Furthermore, lignin might be an inhibitor of enzyme reactions 3) . Therefore, a sufficient pretreatment should be applied to eliminate the inhibition of lignin, and to promote the contact of enzyme to holocellulose (cellulose and hemicellulose).…”

Potential of nanofiltration and reverse osmosis processes for the recovery of high‐concentrated furfural streams

“…Furfural (C 5 H 4 O 2 , 99%) purchased from Sigma Aldrich (St Louis, MO, USA) and absolute ethanol (C 2 H 6 O) supplied by Panreac Quimica (Barcelona, Spain) were used to prepare a synthetic furfural solution (9 g L −1 ) mimicking an oil palm hydrolysate stream treated by a solvolysis subcritical process . Furfural was mixed in an ethanol/water‐based solution (1:99, v/v); 27 L of furfural solution (pH 3.7 ± 0.2) was prepared in order to carry out the NF and RO experiments with the lab‐scale set‐up.…”

“…In this sense, subcritical technology with the utilization of alcohol solvents has gained interest, since critical conditions of alcohol solvents are considerably lower than those used with water or other solvents, thereby offering milder condition reactions. For example, new approaches have been studied involving the utilization of ethanol as a main solvent under subcritical conditions (solvolysis reaction) in furfural production from oil palm fronds . However, it is believed that it is vital to seek a better recovery process to separate furfural from these solvents and increase the purity of furfural as an end product.…”

“…For example, new approaches have been studied involving the utilization of ethanol as a main solvent under subcritical conditions (solvolysis reaction) in furfural production from oil palm fronds. 27 However, it is believed that it is vital to seek a better recovery process to separate furfural from these solvents and increase the purity of furfural as an end product. Separation methods with membrane process technology have attracted great attention owing to their unique ability to separate and purify process streams.…”

Study on the Effect of Reaction Temperature, Time, and Solid Loading on Lignin from Oil Palm Frond (OPF) under Subcritical Phenol Conditions as a Precursor for Carbon Fiber Production

“…Theoretically, the decrease in the dielectric constant at high temperature subsequently decreases the polarity of phenol, which has the ability to dissolve non-polar organic compounds and break the linkages between cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin 23) . Under these conditions, cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin undergoes marked structural changes where the bonds start to decompose to form low molecular compounds, which are found dominantly in the liquid product compared to the solid phase.…”