Comparative Study on the Dehydration of Biomass-Derived Disaccharides and Polysaccharides to 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural

Abstract

5-Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), a well-known value-added platform chemical, can be produced by biomass dehydration for the synthesis of bio-based liquid fuels. In this study, several kinds of saccharides that are widely available from biomass resources, namely, sucrose, maltose, cellobiose, lactose, inulin, and cellulose, were selected as feedstocks. A sulfonated ionic liquid catalyst was employed for the production of HMF from the selected saccharides in a renewable butanone–water solvent mixture. The yields of primary dehydration products versus time on stream from the saccharides were comparatively studied, and the distribution of the liquid-phase product was also analyzed. Results showed that the proposed reaction system could achieve fast conversion of disaccharides and polysaccharides with high selectivity toward HMF. Complete conversion of disaccharide and up to 65.1% yield of HMF were achieved within 1 min. Sucrose and inulin, which are rich in the fructose unit, showed the highest HMF selectivity. The next were maltose, cellobiose, and cellulose, which mainly consist of the glucose unit. They produced more oxygenated aliphatics than sucrose and inulin via side reactions. Lactose had the lowest HMF selectivity and tended to be converted into furan byproducts during the dehydration process.