Valorization of Biomass to Furfural by Chestnut Shell-based Solid Acid in Methyl Isobutyl Ketone-Water-Sodium Chloride System

Recently, highly efficient production of furfural from available, abundant, inexpensive, and renewable lignocellulosic biomass has gained much attention by using biomass-based heterogeneous catalyst in an effective biphasic system. Using microwave-treated chestnut shell (MC-CNS) as biobased support, biomass-based catalyst (MC-Sn-CNS) was firstly synthesized for catalyzing biomass into furfural. The structure parameters of MC-Sn-CNS were measured by BET, SEM, XRD, and FT-IR. After systematical optimization, furfural yield reached 64.4% from corncob by MC-Sn-CNS (3.6 wt%) at 180 degrees C for 15 min in methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK)-water (2:1, v:v) containing 200 mM NaCl. MC-Sn-CNS had high stability, which could be recycled for 7 batches. The yield of furfural from fresh corncob was 44.5-64.4%. The possible catalytic mechanism for synergistic catalysis of biomass to furfural by MC-Sn-CNS was expounded in MIBK-water-NaCl system. The results showed that green solvent (MIBK) and NaCl promoted the production of furfural from CC catalyzed by solid acid (MC-Sn-CNS). This study demonstrated an environmentally friendly strategy for efficiently utilizing corncob into furfural by CNS-based heterogeneous chemocatalyst in a green reaction media. Clearly, this newly synthesized biomass-based MC-Sn-CNS catalyst had potential application in the future.

Automated summary

The strategy of efficiently utilizing lignocellulosic biomass to produce furfural using biomass-based heterogeneous catalyst in a green reaction media has gained much attention. The results showed that under specific conditions, the catalyst based on chestnut shell can efficiently catalyze biomass to furfural with high stability. The catalytic mechanism was elucidated, and it was found that green solvent and sodium chloride played a promoting role in the catalytic reaction.