High‐Yield 5‐Hydroxymethylfurfural Synthesis from Crude Sugar Beet Juice in a Biphasic Microreactor

Abstract

5‐Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) is an important biobased platform chemical obtainable in high selectivity by the hydrolysis of fructose (FRC). However, FRC is expensive, making the production of HMF at a competitive market price highly challenging. Here, it is shown that sugar beet thick juice, a crude, sucrose‐rich intermediate in sugar refining, is an excellent feedstock for HMF synthesis. Unprecedented high selectivities and yields of >90 % for HMF were achieved in a biphasic reactor setup at 150 °C using salted diluted thick juice with H2SO4 as catalyst and 2‐methyltetrahydrofuran as a bioderived extraction solvent. The conversion of glucose, obtained by sucrose inversion, could be limited to <10 mol %, allowing its recovery for further use. Interestingly, purified sucrose led to significantly lower HMF selectivity and yields, showing advantages from both an economic and chemical selectivity perspective. This opens new avenues for more cost‐effective HMF production.

Model‐based equipment design for the biphasic production of 5‐hydroxymethylfurfural in a tubular reactor

“…Our experimental procedure does not allow for quantification of soluble and insoluble byproducts from FRC dehydration (humins) by spectroscopy or HPLC analysis. Therefore, we calculate the volume specific mass of carbonm carbon,humins based on humins' production during FRC dehydration based on a carbon balance similar to 20 :…”

“…The experimental value for the partition coefficient determined in this work at 293 K is K = 2.2, and comparable to a recently reported value (K = 1.9) for the solvent system 2-MTHF/water by. 20 To account for the salting-out effect of SO 2− 4 anions introduced by the presence of H 2 SO 4 in the reactive system, we add Na 2 SO 4 to the ternary system 2-MTHF/water/5-HMF. In a detailed study on anion and cation effects on 5-HMF partitioning in the solvent system methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK)/ water, Mohammad et al 37 13 find that mutual solubility also increases with temperature.…”

“…Model 1 on the other hand enables the calculation of higher 5-HMF yields in biphasic systems, which is more in line with recent results from experiments in microreactors. 6,7,20,43 A logical next step is therefore to combine the beneficial attributes of both models by providing further data at higher reaction temperatures and more detailed analytics for the inline characterization of humins.…”

Reductive Amination, Hydrogenation and Hydrodeoxygenation of 5‐Hydroxymethylfurfural using Silica‐supported Cobalt‐ Nanoparticles

“…The valorization of renewable resource, especially biomass and its based compounds to produce value-added chemicals and fuels as well as pharmaceutically relevant compounds in more efficient and sustainable manner continues to be an important goal of chemical research. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] In this regard the development of resourceful and cost-effective catalytic methodologies to convert biomass and its derived feedstock to essential products is of central importance. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] Among sugar derived feedstocks, 5hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) represents highly valuable platform compound, [20][21][22][23][24][25] which has been listed as the top 10 renewable chemicals by the U.S. Department of Energy.…”

Benzenetriol-Derived Compounds against Citrus Canker

“…BTO was demonstrated to be attainable from biomass by hydrothermal reaction of hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) in the presence of catalysts [ 6 , 7 ]. HMF has been reported as a key bio-based platform chemical and is projected to be available at low price once produced at large scale from agricultural residues [ 8 , 9 ]. BTO is composed of an aromatic ring with three phenolic hydroxyls, of which the one in the 4 position can be selectively modified to obtain ethers ( Figure 1 b) [ 10 ].…”