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Catalytic Dehydration of Lignocellulosic Derived Xylose to Furfural

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Plants and BioEnergy

Part of the book series: Advances in Plant Biology ((AIPB,volume 4))

Abstract

In this chapter we present different biorefinary strategies for the production of Furfural, a top ten platform chemical for making next generation fine chemicals and liquid fuels. Several research articles have been published demonstrating the production of furfural using homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts in single and biphasic solvent systems. This article summarizes the finding of the most recent research articles with critical discussion on the factors that control the yield and selectivity of furfural. Among several factors, special emphasis has been given on the improvement of partition coefficient of biphasic solvent systems and the effect of pore size of the heterogeneous catalyst in enhancing furfural yield and selectivity. Catalytic dehydration of xylose and its isomer form has been exemplified with Lewis and Brønsted acidic catalysts in understanding the mechanistic role of the individual acid sites in improving furfural yields and minimizing by-products formation.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge financial support from the Center for direct Catalytic Conversion of Biomass to Biofuels (C3Bio), an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, and Office of Basic Energy Sciences under Award Number DE-SC0000997.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Brown Laboratory, Department of Chemistry and School of Chemical Engineering, The Center for Catalytic Conversion of Biomass to Biofuels (C3Bio), Purdue University, 560 Oval Drive, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA

    Basudeb Saha & Mahdi M. Abu-Omar

  2. School of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, The Center for Catalytic Conversion of Biomass to Biofuels (C3Bio), and Laboratory of Renewable Resources Engineering, Purdue University, 500 Central Drive, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA

    Nathan S. Mosier

Authors
  1. Basudeb Saha
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  2. Nathan S. Mosier
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  3. Mahdi M. Abu-Omar
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mahdi M. Abu-Omar .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA

    Maureen C. McCann

  2. Botany, Institute of Biosciences, University of Campinas, Sao Paolo, Brazil

    Marcos S. Buckeridge

  3. Botany and Plant Pathology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA

    Nicholas C. Carpita

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Saha, B., Mosier, N.S., Abu-Omar, M.M. (2014). Catalytic Dehydration of Lignocellulosic Derived Xylose to Furfural. In: McCann, M., Buckeridge, M., Carpita, N. (eds) Plants and BioEnergy. Advances in Plant Biology, vol 4. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9329-7_16

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