title: Conversion of corn stalk into furfural using a novel heterogeneous strong acid catalyst in γ-valerolactone.
abstract: A novel solid acid catalyst was prepared by the copolymerization of p-toluenesulfonic acid and paraformaldehyde and then characterized by FT-IR, TG/DTG, HRTEM and N2-BET. Furfural was successfully produced by the dehydration of xylose and xylan using the novel catalyst in γ-valerolactone. This investigation focused on effects of various reaction conditions including solvent, acid catalyst, reaction temperature, residence time, water concentration, xylose loading and catalyst dosage on the dehydration of xylose to furfural. It was found that the solid catalyst displayed extremely high activity for furfural production. 80.4% furfural yield with 98.8% xylose conversion was achieved at 170°C for 10 min. The catalyst could be recycled at least five times without significant loss of activity. Furthermore, 83.5% furfural yield and 19.5% HMF yield were obtained from raw corn stalk under more severe conditions (190°C for 100 min).
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, PR China.
authors.forename: Zhiping
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Thermal Science and Energy Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, PR China. Electronic address: liwenzhi@ustc.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Wenzhi
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Thermal Science and Energy Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, PR China.
authors.forename: Zhijie
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Du
authors.affiliation: Department of Thermal Science and Energy Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, PR China.
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Forest Biomaterials, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-8005, USA.
authors.forename: Hasan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jameel
authors.affiliation: Department of Forest Biomaterials, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-8005, USA.
authors.forename: Hou-Min
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Renewable Energy, Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, PR China.
authors.forename: Longlong
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ma
mesh_terms: D000143:Acids; D001557:Benzenesulfonates / Q000737:chemistry*; D002384:Catalysis; D005557:Formaldehyde / Q000737:chemistry*; D005662:Furaldehyde / Q000138:chemical synthesis*; D007783:Lactones / Q000737:chemistry*; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D013696:Temperature; D014867:Water; D014990:Xylans / Q000737:chemistry; D014994:Xylose / Q000737:chemistry; D003313:Zea mays / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000143:Acids; D001557:Benzenesulfonates; D007783:Lactones; D011108:Polymers; D014990:Xylans; D014867:Water; D005557:Formaldehyde; D014994:Xylose; D005662:Furaldehyde; C037556:gamma-valerolactone; C029501:4-toluenesulfonic acid; C003043:paraform
keywords: Corn stalk; Furfural; PTSA-POM catalyst; Xylose; γ-Valerolactone