In
this work, ultrasonic-assisted ethanolysis of raw sugar (RS)
into 5-ethoxymethylfurfural (5-EMF) product was performed under a
biphasic system under mild conditions. The sulfonic-magnetic activated
carbon (S-MAC) was prepared via pyrolysis and sulfonation processes
and further applied for catalytic production of 5-EMF. The catalytic
behaviors for facile formation/rapid production of 5-EMF were described
through several factors such as type of catalyst, S-MAC and choline
chloride (ChCl) adding amounts, reaction temperature, reaction time,
and ultrasonic power generation. The integrating roles of various
catalysts with the introduction of oxygen were described using turnover
rate investigation, and the result found to be a great effect for
improving the 5-EMF yield via major reactions such as hydrolysis,
isomerization, dehydration, and etherification while side reactions
for formation of polymeric intermediates were remarkably suppressed.
Herein, a maximum yield of 5-EMF (actual yield = 93.2 ± 0.6%)
was obtained at a low temperature of 80 °C and short reaction
time for 11 min under an optimization process via linear-quadratic
designs. Finally, the reusable systems under O2 and N2 addition were compared up to 10 cycles, and the result found
that very few changing in 5-EMF yield could be obtained while hard
carbon/humins deposited on S-MAC structure was significantly obstructed
and reduced in each cycle via special oxidative degradation. In addition,
lower energy consumption was required for regeneration of spent catalyst
derived from reaction under an oxygen environment. This work was notably
expected for further application in practical procedure under a reusable
system.