The fast depletion of fossil resources and the environmental impact associated with their use led to an increased focus on the utilization of renewable resources, like biomass. Furfural, an organic compound, is amongst the most relevant value-added compounds that can be recovered from biomass, such as from xylans – the third most abundant biopolymer on Earth which can be found, for example, in plants.
Since 1921 (date of the first furfural industrial production), scientists have tried to develop and optimize furfural production process. Currently, furfural is mainly produced from agricultural wastes, such as corn cobs and sugar cane bagasses, often using processes that require the utilization of high temperatures (170-240 ºC) and strong acids. So, in order to develop a more cost-efficient and sustainable process for furfural production from xylans, researchers of the University of Aveiro made use of deep eutectic solvents – solvents which have emerged as environmental friendly alternatives to the conventional organic solvents in organic reactions. The deep eutectic solvents used by Eduarda and her research group had special properties: they had acidic characteristics and could act as both solvents (substances that dissolve a solute) and catalysts (substances that accelerate a chemical reaction).
Eduarda Morais and her research group developed recently the fastest and most efficient process reported up to date for the production of furfural, a renewable organic compound, using an ecological solvent.
According to the authors, this new process for furfural production from xylan using deep eutectic solvents has potential to be scaled-up and offers several advantages when compared with the currently used industrial processes. It includes shorter time of reaction, use of less severe experimental conditions, and use of a bio-based, environmental-friendly and recyclable solvents/ catalysts.
“When compared to other works already reported in the literature, to the best of our knowledge, this is the fastest and highest yield process developed up to date to produce furfural”, conclude the researchers of the University of Aveiro.
References:
Morais, E. S., Freire, M. G., Freire, C. S. R., Coutinho, J. A. P., Silvestre, A. J. D. (2019). Enhanced Conversion of Xylan into Furfural using Acidic Deep Eutectic Solvents with Dual Solvent and Catalyst Behavior. ChemSusChem, 13 (4) Materials Horizons, 6(3). DOI: 10.1002/cssc.201902848
Khandelwal, S., Tailor, K. Y., Kumar, M. (2016), Deep eutetic solvents (DESs) as eco-friendly and sustainable solvent/ catalyst system in organic transformations. Journal of Molecular Liquids, 345-386. DOI: 10.1016/j.molliq.2015.12.015
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