Kinetics of Xylose Dehydration into Furfural in Formic Acid

Abstract

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.

Recent Advances in the Catalytic Production of Platform Chemicals from Holocellulosic Biomass

“…Another issue is the high energy consumption related to the steam stripping process to avoid further FUR degradation and fuel employment to generate the steam. Besides mineral acids, organic acids have been shown to provide catalytic properties in FUR formation . In fact, studies have shown that some organic acids are formed as secondary products from xylose dehydration as fragmentation products, i. e. acetic and formic acid ,…”

Hydrothermal production of furfural from xylose and xylan as model compounds for hemicelluloses

“…13 Therefore, the hydrothermal conversion of lignocellulosic raw material (e.g. [15][16][17][18] Studies with the main focus on hemicelluloses model compounds are rare, and to our knowledge there is only one study examining the uncatalyzed hydrothermal conversion of the homopolymer xylan. [15][16][17][18] Studies with the main focus on hemicelluloses model compounds are rare, and to our knowledge there is only one study examining the uncatalyzed hydrothermal conversion of the homopolymer xylan.…”

The effects of combined catalysis of oxalic acid and seawater on the kinetics of xylose and arabinose dehydration to furfural

“…fumaric, oxalic or maleic acid) have already been investigated as substitutes for the more widely applied mineral acids (mostly H 2 SO 4 or HCl) [19,29,33,34]. Formic acid, a byproduct of furfural degradation, has been shown to be an effective catalyst for furfural production [20]. Moreover, it can be shown to result in even slightly higher furfural yield and selectivity than phosphoric acid and sulfuric acid [40].…”