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Development of sustainable bio‐based materials for removal of toxic contaminants from water is a high priority goal. Novel bio‐based binary and ternary copolymers with enhanced ion‐exchange, adsorption and antibacterial properties were obtained by using plant biomass‐derived diallyl esters of furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) as crosslinking agents and easily available vinyl monomers. The synthesized copolymer materials showed higher sorption capacities for NiII, CoII and CuII compared to the commercial ion‐exchange resins, and they maintained their high metal adsorption capacities for over 10 cycles of regeneration. The synthesized copolymer gels containing 1–5 wt % of the crosslinker showed excellent water absorption capacities. The synthesized copolymers with 1 % crosslinker content showed swelling ratios high enough to also act as moisture absorbents. Synthesized copolymers with crosslinker content of 10 wt % performed as contact‐active antibacterials by inhibiting the growth of Gram‐positive (S. aureus) and Gram‐negative bacteria (E. coli, K. pneumonia) in suspension tests.

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An automatic lab scale equipment for continuous HMF production by the dehydration of fructose with homogeneous catalysis in biphasic systems (water solution - MIBK) was designed, manufactured and tested. The dependencies of the HMF yield on the process parameters were studied. The feed rate of fructose varied from 50 to 100 g·h−1, the extractant (MIBK) flow rate from 0.5 to 1.4 L·h−1 and the process temperature was maintained in the range from 50 to 87 °C. The maximum productivity of the automatic lab scale equipment 33.6 g·h−1 with a high HMF yield 48 % is achieved with the following process parameters - 87 °C, the fructose feed rate 100 g·h−1 and the extractant flow rate 1 L·h−1. This automatic lab scale equipment may be prospectively used for the kilogram scale HMF synthesis.

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