Furfural and hydrogen production from corncob via tandem chemical and electrochemical approach

Abstract

Furfural and hydrogen co-production from raw corncob was demonstrated via the tandem chemical/electrochemical route. The operating conditions for furfural production were optimized with AlCl3 catalyst in a water/CPME biphasic system. A high furfural yield (85%) was obtained via chemical conversion by implementing an AlCl3 catalyst in a biphasic solvent system. The furfural waste from the chemical conversion was electrochemically upgraded into hydrogen with a 0.48% weight yield implementing a FeCl3 electrochemical mediator. The energy consumption for hydrogen evolution from waste furfural residue is 50% lower than water electrolysis. The facts indicate that a novel and promising method for the co-production of furfural and hydrogen from renewable biomass is developed.