Towards sustainable furfural production: investigating solvent effects, reaction kinetics, process simulation, and energy assessment
Daniel Edumujeze, Karine Thomas, Françoise Maugé, Christine Devouge-Boyer, Marie‐Christine Fournier‐Salaün, Sébastien Leveneur
Abstract
Furfural, an important platform molecule obtained exclusively from the cyclodehydration of xylose, has numerous applications across a wide spectrum of sectors. However, the industrial production process is currently limited by the degradation of xylose and furfural to humins in the aqueous medium. While the in situ extraction of the furfural produced by an organic solvent proves to be beneficial, the remaining xylose, which is left in the aqueous phase, degrades at moderate to high-temperature conditions. To address this, we developed a novel co-solvent system (70:30 v/v% γ-valerolactone: butanol) that achieves 100% xylose conversion and an 84% furfural yield, outperforming traditional water-based and mono-solvent systems in both selectivity and stability. This system leverages synergistic solvent interactions to stabilize reactive intermediates and reduce side reactions. Additionally, the HUSY-30 zeolite catalyst demonstrated excellent thermal stability and reusability over five cycles, outperforming conventional resins such as Amberlyst-15. A suite of ten pseudo-first-order kinetic models was developed, with the best-fit model confirming furfural formation via both direct and intermediate pathways and negligible humin formation, reinforcing the effectiveness of the co-solvent system. Beyond reaction optimization, we designed and validated a novel separation process based on liquid-liquid extraction, replacing conventional distillation. Simulation results showed reductions of 66.96% and 57.99% in cooling and heating duties, respectively. Overall, this integrated approach represents a significant advancement in sustainable furfural production by combining optimized catalysis, solvent engineering, kinetic modeling, and process intensification.