Advance of glucose conversion to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural using ionic liquid: mini review

Abstract

Biomass has been used as a raw material to replace fossil fuel due to its abundance and renewability in recent years. The majority of biomass consists of carbohydrates such as glucose and fructose. The conversion of glucose into its derivative (i.e., 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF)) opens several spaces to be studied. However, the yield of HMF is still low due to its ease of degradation into by-products and the difficulty of product separation. Therefore, ionic liquid (IL) is used as a solvent or media to avoid HMF degradation, which has high thermal stability, low toxicity, an un-flammable, wide range of solubility, physical and chemical stability. In addition, IL is recyclable, has good performance at dissolving biomass, and can act as a catalyst. Many important aspects of glucose conversion into HMF in IL as a media and catalyst can be deeply developed and investigated regarding conversion yield, which is affected by different ILs used, and conversion time. This review paper will discuss a detailed summary of the development of glucose conversion into HMF using IL.