Study on process production of furfural and other chemicals from sugarcane bagasse in the phosphoric acid-tetrahydrofuran system

Abstract

Cellulose degradation is inevitable during the production of furfural from biomass under the acidic systems; meanwhile, the simultaneous high yields of furfural and cellulose degradation product (5-HMF or levulinic acid) are hard to be achieved. To solve the problem and avoid the waste of cellulose, a method of producing furfural and preserving cellulosic residue was explored. Sugarcane bagasse was firstly pre-treated by phosphoric acid to obtain soluble xylo-oligosaccharides. And compared to the low furfural yields in phosphoric acid-water system based on response surface analysis, high furfural yields were obtained in the phosphoric acid-tetrahydrofuran (THF) system, meanwhile only trace cellulose was degraded. Furthermore, by a two-step rising temperature method, furfural yield reached to 66.59 mol%, and cellulose was depolymerised into glucooligosaccharides. After recovery of furfural, this research also investigated the conversion of glucooligosaccharides catalysed by the residual phosphoric acid, and it was found levulinic acid and extremely high yields of formic acid generated at 200°C. [Received: January 12, 2016; Accepted: July 27, 2016]