Abstract
Conversion of corn cob to furfural was investigated using γ-valerolactone as the solvent with a dilute sulfuric acid catalyst. A maximum furfural yield of 99.50% was obtained at 190 °C for 20 min with 0.10% sulfuric acid. A well-evaluated kinetic model was used for this reaction, and its activation energy was calculated. The model agreed closely with the experimental data and kinetics parameters, indicating that γ-valerolactone accelerated furfural formation and decreased the degradation rate as compared to water. Moreover, using γ-valerolactone as a solvent changed the energetics of the conversion reaction of hemicellulose to improve the formation of furfural. The response surface plots of the furfural concentration with respect to the temperature and dilute sulfuric acid density improved our understanding of the furfural production reaction from corn cob in γ-valerolactone solvents.
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