Production of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural and furfural from cassa va waste using carbon based catalyst

Abstract

The production of 5-hydroxymethylfurfaral (HMF) and furfural from cellulosic and hemi cellulosic biomass is becoming interesting because these compounds are particularly suitable starting materials for the preparation hydrocarbons (C₉ –C₁₅) which have the same property as petroleum fuels. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the production of HMF and furfural from biomass. First, the cassava waste was used as substrate to study the effect of carbon based catalyst and the suitable composition of reaction medium consisting of acetone/DMSO (70/30% w/w) and water. The composition of medium was studied ranging from 100/0 to 0/100 (pure water) of acetone /DMSO (70/30% w/w) to water both with and without carbon based catalyst. For all medium compositions, the result showed that the production yield of HMF and furfural from cassava waste conversion with carbon based catalyst were higher than the yield obtained without the catalyst, indicating the ability of the carbon based catalyst to promote the production of HMF and furfural from cassava waste. The suitable medium for the production of HMF and furfural with catalyst was 10/90 % w/w of acetone/DMSO (70/30% w/w) to water and this medium composition was used for further study to determine the suitable reaction temperature (220 -270 °C), reaction time (0-12 min) and dose of carbon based catalyst (0.05-0.15g). The production of HMF and furfural in 10/90% w/w of acetone/DMSO (70/30% w/w) to water as medium was the highest at 250°C, 1 min and with 0.05 g of carbon based catalyst. At this condition, 12.1% yield of HMF and 2% yield of furfural were obtained. Furthermore, the effect of carbon based catalyst on the reaction pathway of HMF and furfural production from biomass was study. Cellulose, hemicellulose, glucose, xylose and fructose were used as substrates in the reaction both with and without use of the catalyst. The result from this study confirms that the carbon base catalyst could enhance the hydrolysis process from cellulose to glucose, hemicellulose to glucose and xylose. Moreover, the carbon based catalyst was shown to promote the dehydration from xylose to furfural as well as from glucose to HMF and furfural. However, the limitation of carbon based catalyst was that it was found to suppress the isomerization from glucose to fructose which nevertheless can be enhanced by further adding base catalyst to improve the production of HMF and furfural from cassava waste.