Homogeneous Degradation of Cotton Cellulose into Furan Derivatives in ZnCl2Solution by Integration Technology of Reaction and Extraction

Abstract

This study has investigated homogeneous degradation of cotton cellulose into furan derivatives, namely 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), 1-(furan-2-yl)-2-hydroxyethanone (FHE), and furfural (FF), in concentrated zinc chloride solution under biphasic reaction system with Lewis acids (ZnCl2) as catalysts. Compared with cellulose degradation in pure aqueous phase without any organic solvent, using the integrated reaction and extraction process has shown significant enhancement for the production of HMF, FF, and FHE although the effect on the HMF yield is most significant. However, when dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) was added either in the reactive phase or in the extractive phase, the FHE production was inhibited but other product yields were increased. By optimizing the operation conditions, the maximum yields of HMF and FF have been achieved as 79.68 and 17.02 g/kg cellulose. These product yields were, respectively, 130.84 and 3.29 times of those obtained from the systems without any extraction solvent.