High purity fructose from inulin with heterogeneous catalysis – kinetics and modelling

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Inulin can be extracted from the non-edible chicory root and high purity fructose can be obtained from hydrolysis of inulin and used as a valuable platform molecule for further valorization. Heterogeneous catalysts are sought as alternatives to mineral acids because of costly separation and severe corrosion problems. In this work, hydrolysis of inulin was performed in a batch reactor with an advanced sulfonic resin (Smopex-101) employing HCl as a reference catalyst, at 75-95 ∘ C and pH ranging from 1 to 2.

High purity fructose from inulin with heterogeneous catalysis – from batch to continuous operation

“…To avoid this, the reactor was flushed with distilled water until no sulfonic groups could be detected. The amount of sulfonic groups leached in the flushing was so minor, that it did not influence the catalyst performance even though it was visible in the analysis, as has been shown in a previous study …”

“…The experimental matrix including temperature, flow rate, amount of catalyst, and the initial concentration of inulin can be seen in Table . The experimental planning was based on results obtained from batch reactor experiments …”

“…The backbone of Smopex‐101 is a styrene‐grafted polyolefin fiber. Hydrolysis of inulin with Smopex‐101 was demonstrated to be efficient in a batch reactor in a recent study by our group …”

“…The current work is direct continuation of a previous study performed with the same catalyst in a batch reactor . In that study, the chemical kinetics of inulin hydrolysis were studied in detail, the catalyst performance was evaluated and a detailed mechanistic model was developed for describing the hydrolysis kinetics.…”

Synthesis of 5‐hydroxymethylfurfural from fructose and inulin catalyzed by magnetically‐recoverable Fe3O4@SiO2@TiO2–HPW nanoparticles

“…In order to obtain high HMF yields, most researchers prefer to use fructose or inulin (a polymeric form of fructose) as a starting material (Scheme S1). Industrial sources of inulin and fructose include chicory ( Cichorium intybus ), Jerusalem artichoke ( Helianthus tuberosus ), and the roots of dandelion species such as the rubber producing species Taraxacum kok saghyz …”