Thermo-chemical pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass has been considered as a essential step for effective bioconversion and further conversion into valuable biochemical products. Lignocellulosic biomass obtained as by-products such as corn bran and wheat bran are rich in C5 components compared to other species. Furfural is considered as an important platform chemical, which can be further converted into the numerous products including fuels, solvents, plastic substitutes, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and so on. Furfural can be produced by two step reaction such as (1) hydrolysis of hemicellulose into C5 monomer and (2) condensation/dehydration of C5 monomer into furfural. However, the furfural is found to be easily decomposed to other components (humins).
Production of furfural is challenging because the decomposition reaction rate of furfural-to-humins is fast. In this study, we investigated the overall reaction behavior of the major components (C6, C5, and lignin) of biomass. We also attempted into various process options including acid catalytic reaction using tubular reactor and bi-phasic reactor using batch reactor. By exploring various reaction parameters, the optimal reaction conditions for effective furfural production were studied.
In this paper, various furfural conversion process options were evaluated and reported under various reaction conditions. For the increased furfural production, various catalytic reaction conditions pertinent to effective and viable process were explored and discussed.
