The
condensation reaction of fructose to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural
(HMF) is acid-catalyzed, and it suffers from thermodynamic limitation of the conversion, poor
kinetics, and consecutive reactions such as formation of humins from
HMF. Different approaches exist to overcome these limitations. In
this work, the combination of a nonaqueous solvent and a suitable
extraction system is presented that ensures high reaction selectivity
at full conversion, fast kinetics, and high partition selectivity
of the product HMF over reactant fructose, keeping the temperature
as low as 70 °C. In the first step of this work, the equation
of state PC-SAFT was used to predict solvent effects on the reaction
equilibrium of homogenous reaction systems. It was found that the
two hydrophilic ionic liquids (ILs) [BMIM]Cl and [MIM]Cl shifted the
reaction equilibrium to the product side by factors of 230 and 40,
respectively, compared to the reaction in water. The predictions were
verified by experimental data, which showed full conversion of fructose
to HMF within less than 20 (60) min for the reaction in [MIM]Cl ([BMIM]Cl)
with a high selectivity of up to 80%. Even more, the reaction in the
[MIM]Cl solvent did not require adding a catalyst due to the acidic
character of this IL. In the second step of this work, an in situ
extraction of HMF was performed using a nonaqueous two-phase reaction
system NTPS that was designed with PC-SAFT. The NTPS contains the
reaction phase (either [BMIM]Cl or [MIM]Cl) and the extraction agent,
i.e., one of the ketones MEK, MIBK, or ethyl acetate. These IL + organic
solvent NTPSs were analyzed and evaluated toward fructose conversion
and partitioning of fructose and of HMF. PC-SAFT predicted that, among
all systems studied in this work, the NTPS IL + MEK was the most promising
for the reaction of fructose to HMF and the in situ removal of HMF
from fructose. Experimental results could validate the PC-SAFT predictions,
that is, IL + MEK NTPSs allowed efficient conversion of fructose to
HMF and a partition selectivity of HMF over fructose of about 100%.
This new NTPS does not require an additional catalyst due to the acidity
of [MIM]Cl; it allows a high reaction selectivity of 87% at 20 min
and 93% conversion, and it moreover provides high separation efficiency.
In sum, these results open the door for further developments of in
situ extraction systems in the future for efficient and fast fructose
conversion and HMF separation from the reacting phase, keeping the
temperature as low as possible.