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Abstract
The biomass-based production of levulinic acid requires aqueous mineral acid as catalyst. In the present study, the possible reuse of sulfuric acid in the biomass conversion was investigated. The acid can either be reused after extracting the product or before extraction. The results show that both methods are applicable for producing levulinic acid while reducing the sulfuric acid demand of the process. Conversion of D-fructose showed similar results after five recycle steps in both post- and pre-extraction methods. The post-extraction method was successfully repeated four times with cooked tea leaves. The sulfuric acid applied for the conversion of a simulated household waste was successfully recycled eight times with pre-extraction plus once by post-extraction without significant change in the product formation.
Highlights
The efficient conversion of biomass-based waste streams to basic chemicals has become a key issue in developing nonfossil-based production of carbon-based consumer chemicals and fuels
We performed the conversion of 500 mg of D-fructose and 500 mg tea leave waste in 10 mL of 2 M sulfuric acid at 170 °C for 8 h using external oil bath resulting in 36.6-37.4 % and 9.2 % of levulinic acid (LA) yield, respectively
The possible preand post-extraction methods of sulfuric acid containing phase were firstly investigated by the use of 2.8 mmol D-fructose for each cycle under identical conditions
Summary
The efficient conversion of biomass-based waste streams to basic chemicals has become a key issue in developing nonfossil-based production of carbon-based consumer chemicals and fuels. Due to the intensive research activities of biomass conversion, several versatile platform chemicals have been identified and characterized i.e. 5-hydroxymethyl-furfural (5-HMF) [2], levulinic acid (LA) [3], γ-valerolactone (GVL) [4], 2-furfural (FAL) [5], furfuryl alcohol (FOL) [6], just to name a few. Among these molecules, LA and its derivatives including levulinate esters [7] and GVL [4], have several established promising applications (Fig. 1), and their production and conversion have been well studied.
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