Experiments and Kinetic Modeling of Fructose Dehydration to 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural with Hydrochloric Acid in Acetone-Water Solvent

This work presents experimental and kinetic modeling studies on fructose dehydration to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) in the solution of mixed acetone and water, catalyzed by hydrochloric acid (HCl). A reaction scheme that added an intermediate was proposed. A corresponding kinetic model that considered the parameters, including temperature (383-423 K), initial substrate concentration (10-100 g/L), and catalyst concentration (5-60 mmol/L), was established, and the influence of solvent ratio (3-19) was also studied. The maximum yield was 91% in the ideal plug flow reactor under the optimized condition (T = 383 K, C-F0 = 10 g/L, C-HCl = 10 mmol/L). The model can well support the delicate reactor design since an industrially accessible HMF production process was proposed in this work.

Automated summary

This work presents experimental and kinetic modeling studies on fructose dehydration to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) in the solution of mixed acetone and water, catalyzed by hydrochloric acid (HCl). A reaction scheme that added an intermediate was proposed. The established kinetic model considered various parameters and achieved a high yield under the optimized condition.