Catalytic conversion of glucose into levulinic and formic acids using aqueous Bronsted acid

This study investigated optimized production of levulinic (LA) and formic (FA) acids from glucose using methanesulfonic acid (MSA), a known eco-friendly green catalyst. We employed the Box-Behnken statistical approach to optimize and assess the reciprocal interactions of reaction factors. The proposed optimization achieved 48.95% LA and 50.79% FA yields, with 99.8% glucose conversion and 0.06% 5-HMF yield using 0.25 M glucose, 0.35 M MSA, 181.3 degrees C for 44.4 min. LA yield increased linearly with increasing the combined severity factor (CSF) until CSF approximate to 3.0, and remained constant with further CSF increase. FA yield peaked at CSF = 3.2, and decreased with further CSF increase. CSF and LA and FA yields were fitted to a non-linear regression model for sigmoidal and peak, respectively, with high R-2. Thus, MSA can be effectively employed to produce platform chemicals in the bioenergy field. (C) 2018 The Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.