Abstract
Furfuryl alcohol (FA) is an important building block in polymer, food, and pharmaceutical industries. In this work, we reported the biocatalytic reduction of furfural, one of the top value-added bio-based platform chemicals, to FA by immobilized Meyerozyma guilliermondii SC1103 cells. The biocatalytic process was optimized, and the tolerance of this yeast strain toward toxic furfural was evaluated. It was found that furfural of 200 mM could be reduced smoothly to the desired product FA with the conversion of 98% and the selectivity of >98%, while the FA yield was only approximately 81%. The gap between the substrate conversion and the product yield might partially be attributed to the substantial adsorption of the immobilization material (calcium alginate) toward the desired product, but microbial metabolism of furans (as carbon sources) made a negligible contribution to it. In addition, FA of approximately 156 mM was produced within 7 h in a scale-up reaction, along with the formation of trace 2-furoic acid (1 mM) as the byproduct. The FA productivity was up to 2.9 g/L/h, the highest value ever reported in the biocatalytic synthesis of FA. The crude FA was simply separated from the reaction mixture by organic solvent extraction, with the recovery of 90% and the purity of 88%. FA as high as 266 mM was produced by using a fed-batch strategy within 15.5 h.
Highlights
The production of biofuels and bio-based chemicals from renewable biomass has attracted outstanding interest for reducing the dependence on fossil fuel sources, as well as mitigating global warming [1,2]
Furfuryl alcohol (FA) is the most important derivative of furfural, since approximately 65% of furfural produced worldwide is utilized for the synthesis of FA [4,6]
The desired product was significantly adsorbed by immobilization material, resulting in a relatively low yield (81%)
Summary
The production of biofuels and bio-based chemicals from renewable biomass has attracted outstanding interest for reducing the dependence on fossil fuel sources, as well as mitigating global warming [1,2]. There exist two active functional groups, including the aromatic ring and formyl group, in furfural, which are responsible for the high chemical reactivity of this bio-based molecule. It can be upgraded readily into a group of value-added products via some typical chemical transformations such as reduction, oxidation, and. FA is primarily used in the production of thermostatic resins, corrosion resistant fiber glass, and polymer concrete [7]. It is a building block in the manufacture of fragrances and pharmaceuticals, and for the Catalysts 2019, 9, 70; doi:10.3390/catal9010070 www.mdpi.com/journal/catalysts
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