Furfural production from biomass–derived carbohydrates and lignocellulosic residues via heterogeneous acid catalysts

Abstract

With the aim to enhance the efficiency of the furfural production from lignocellulosic biomass, different catalysts, such as montmorillonite, heteropolyacids, silicoaluminophosphates, and modified beta zeolites, were studied for catalysis of the conversion of biomass–derived carbohydrates and raw biomass into furfural in lactone solvents. Interestingly, we obtained atypical results showing that modified beta zeolites convert glucose and cellulose into furfural as the predominant product. Furfural formation from corncob, sugarcane bagasse, xylose/glucose mixtures, and xylan/cellulose mixtures were also studied. Al–beta was found to display high activity for the conversion of corncob and bagasse in γ-valerolactone (GVL), giving furfural yields of up to 51.1% and 40.9% (molar yields based on both cellulose and xylan content), respectively. The catalytic route proposed in this paper showed a great potential for co–converting hemicellulose and cellulose in the furfural production from lignocelluloses.