Title:
Towards Scale Up of Furan Platform Molecules: a Development of a Continuous Intensified Process for Dehydration of Industrial Hemicellulose in an Agitated Cell Reactor
Author(s):
Adamu, A., Boodhoo, K., Russo Abegao, F.
Document(s):
Paper
Abstract:
The conversion of hemicellulose (HMC) sugars into furan derivatives, particularly 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF) and furfural, is crucial for enhancing the sustainability of biorefineries. By converting sugar feedstocks into these two furan platform molecules through sugar dehydration pathways, it is possible to avoid expensive and complex sugar separation processes and increase biomass yield towards biorenewable products. This study addresses significant challenges, such as varying reaction kinetics due to feedstock complexity, high dilution of HMC hydrolysis post-biomass fractionation, and the instability of furan products in aqueous mediums. A continuous Agitated Cell Reactor (ACR) combined with a biphasic extractive-reaction system, using aqueous and methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK) phases, was employed to enhance the dehydration of both standard and real industrial hemicellulose sugars, with sulfuric acid as the catalyst. The study examined the influence of catalyst concentration and residence time on the dehydration of a synthetic C5+C6 sugar mixture containing xylose and glucose, identifying optimal conditions that were then applied to industrial HMC sugars. Results showed that higher sulphuric acid concentration (0.2 M) and longer residence time (120 min) significantly increased the conversion rates of glucose and xylose, with xylose conversion to furfural reaching up to 79%. The process also demonstrated effective conversion of industrial HMC fractions, highlighting the potential for scaling up the production of furan derivatives and advancing biomass valorisation.
Keywords:
biomass, hemicellulose, sugars, scale-up, dehydration, agitated cell reactor (ACR)
Topic:
Biomass Conversion to Bio-based Products and Chemicals
Subtopic:
Biorefinery platforms for bio-based chemicals and polymers
Event:
32nd European Biomass Conference and Exhibition
Session:
6AO.9.4
Pages:
786 - 788
ISBN:
978-88-89407-24-0
Paper DOI:
10.5071/32ndEUBCE2024-6AO.9.4
Price:
FREE
