In recent years, researchers have gained attention in finding new strategies for alternative renewable energy resources in reducing the dependency on fossil fuel in providing energy to the world. 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) is one of the most promising chemicals as it is a multi-functional compound and an intermediate compound that is beneficial in numerous chemical and fuel applications. This study provides recent progress on developing high yield and selectivity of HMF using hydrothermal reaction, emphasizing the catalytic performance efficiency of the developing structured catalysts from a technical perspective. We highlighted a few critical factors and parameters in maximizing the synthesis of HMF by selectively optimizing the desired kinetic reactions, which are hydrolysis, isomerization, and dehydration of sugars, and limiting the undesired side reactions, including HMF rehydration and depolymerization. The use of different types of microporous and mesoporous catalysts provides different HMF conversion results, and by applying few parameters, including catalyst: substrate ratio, Lewis: Brønsted acid ratio, reaction temperature, and duration of reaction, can be tunable in achieving maximum HMF yield and selectivity.

Summary 5‐Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) is a versatile biomass‐derived chemical from multifunctional compound. It is also a promising intermediate compound used in various chemical and fuel applications, including pharmaceuticals, solvents, biofuel, and other intermediates. The demand for innovative approaches to renewable energy resources has risen to diminish the dependency on petroleum‐based products and to seek economical and environmentally friendly processes for supplying energy to the world. Fructose, glucose, cellulose, and lignocellulosic materials are the most common feedstocks used to synthesize HMF. This study reviews previous studies on the development of high yield and selectivity of HMF from technical and economic perspectives. The article highlights a few significant parameters and focused on the solvent system used for the synthesis of HMF in the lab scale and through the development of process modeling using simulation software such as Aspen Plus to perform the techno‐economic analysis (TEA), which analyses the economic feasibility of the developed production process. The TEA can estimate the capital investment needed, including feedstock, catalyst, and equipment cost, and the final product's minimum selling price (MSP). HMF is cost‐efficient due to higher operational costs from the higher cost of fructose feedstock. By studying this analysis, the overall cost of HMF production can be minimized and more economically competitive with current commercial production. Besides, to make the production of HMF more cost‐effective, more research into alternative lignocellulosic feedstocks and the development of novel catalytic systems is needed.

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