Single-Vessel Synthesis of 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) from Milled Corn

5-Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) has potential as a key platform commodity for producing plastics from bioderived sugars rather than petroleum. To date, economically feasible HMF production has been limited by high substrate cost, the use of expensive solvents, or low reaction yields. In this work, a process to produce HMF directly from corn in a single-vessel reaction is described. Molar HMF yields of 88% are attained through the addition of activated carbon to a reaction media consisting of water, dimethyl sulfoxide, and acetonitrile. An HMF production process is described, and a preliminary economic analysis demonstrates that the minimum selling price of HMF is $1105 per tonne. This selling price is competitive with paraxylene, a similar petroleum-derived chemical for plastic synthesis that is sold for similar to $1300 per tonne. A sensitivity analysis was performed to identify critical technical hurdles for successful commercialization of an HMF production facility. Additionally, Monte Carlo analysis suggests that the probability of creating a profitable process is high. The results of this work represent a significant step forward for the commercialization of HMF as a commodity chemical to compete with petroleum-based precursors to plastics.