Lignocellulosic biomass can be converted by hydrothermal treatments into interesting platform chemicals, such as high energy furan liquids. Now, we have investigated a novel cascade process in the absence of any mineral acids for the conversion of giant reed (Arundo donax L.) and corn stover to high energy furan liquids. These biomasses were subjected to a first stage of autohydrolysis and a subsequent step of dehydration with niobium phosphate, both stages assisted by microwave irradiation. Mineral acid-free hydrothermal treatment of giant reed and corn stover leads to quite good biomass fractionation by solubilizing nearly all its hemicelluloses. These obtained hydrolysates contain up to 50 wt % of the initial biomass and they are mostly rich in xylose oligomers along with small amount of glucose oligomers from cellulose. The subsequent thermal treatment of such hydrolysates with niobium phosphate results in both hydrolysis and dehydration of sugar oligomers to produce mainly furfural from pentoses and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural from hexoses. This green cascade process is composed of single batch steps employing water as solvent in the absence of any mineral acids and takes advantage of microwave dielectric heating to save energy, reduce reaction time and diminish degradation products. Under the optimized reaction conditions up to about 4 % overall mass yields of furfural were achieved starting from slurries containing 50 g/L of corn stover and giant reed. These mass yields correspond to about 23 % of the theoretical yield on the basis of the hemicellulose content. These results are promising taking into account the use of raw biomasses and the absolutely green conditions adopted in the cascade process.

Biomass valorization to high furan liquids by heterogeneous catalysts. A green mineral acid-free approach

LICURSI, DOMENICO;ANTONETTI, CLAUDIA;RASPOLLI GALLETTI, ANNA MARIA;MARTINELLI, MARCO
2013-01-01

Abstract

Lignocellulosic biomass can be converted by hydrothermal treatments into interesting platform chemicals, such as high energy furan liquids. Now, we have investigated a novel cascade process in the absence of any mineral acids for the conversion of giant reed (Arundo donax L.) and corn stover to high energy furan liquids. These biomasses were subjected to a first stage of autohydrolysis and a subsequent step of dehydration with niobium phosphate, both stages assisted by microwave irradiation. Mineral acid-free hydrothermal treatment of giant reed and corn stover leads to quite good biomass fractionation by solubilizing nearly all its hemicelluloses. These obtained hydrolysates contain up to 50 wt % of the initial biomass and they are mostly rich in xylose oligomers along with small amount of glucose oligomers from cellulose. The subsequent thermal treatment of such hydrolysates with niobium phosphate results in both hydrolysis and dehydration of sugar oligomers to produce mainly furfural from pentoses and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural from hexoses. This green cascade process is composed of single batch steps employing water as solvent in the absence of any mineral acids and takes advantage of microwave dielectric heating to save energy, reduce reaction time and diminish degradation products. Under the optimized reaction conditions up to about 4 % overall mass yields of furfural were achieved starting from slurries containing 50 g/L of corn stover and giant reed. These mass yields correspond to about 23 % of the theoretical yield on the basis of the hemicellulose content. These results are promising taking into account the use of raw biomasses and the absolutely green conditions adopted in the cascade process.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11568/858913
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