Hydrolysis of Palm Tree Midribs with Hydrochloric Acid for Furfural Formation

Abstract

Waste material samples as pentosan source of midribs from the Sukkaria date palm tree were collected from different Saudi Arabian agricultural areas, and hydrolyzed using hydrochloric acid (HCl) to produce furfural at different temperatures, liquid to solid ratios (LSR) and acid concentrations. A maximum furfural production with a concentration of 755 gm/m3 (72% furfural yield) was achieved, which was close to the theoretical yield at 15 wt% HCl and 100 ml/g LSR at 120°C. The kinetic model for the pentosan fractional hydrolysis towards the production of furfural was previously proposed and developed. Regression analysis of the experimental data was successfully performed using Ploymath software with acceptable predictions precision and regression coefficients of R2 ≥0.96. Furthermore, regressed rate constants of each reaction step in the proposed kinetic model were developed using modified Arrhenius model with an acceptable accuracy of R2 ≥0.96. Experimental data showed that hydrolysis using hydrochloric acid could achieve higher furfural yields with lower reaction times in comparison with sulfuric acid hydrolysis, due to lower activation energy of the involved steps.