Green synthesis of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural from biomass-derived carbohydrates using deep eutectic solvents as environmentally benign catalyst
Kassian T.T. Amesho, Shang-Cyuan Chen, Tzi‐Yi Wu, Vinoth Kumar Ponnusamy, Yuan‐Chung Lin
Abstract
Petroleum-based and other non-renewable materials are widely used in a variety of industrial applications today, and as a result, they have significantly contributed to the rapid growth of various economies across the globe. However, there are a significant number of obstacles in developing strategies to replace petroleum-based materials with renewable resources materials. These obstacles include the over-utilization of petroleum resources, ecological challenges associated with the excessive pressure and over-exploitation of petroleum-based materials, and non-biodegradable products. Therefore, the essential utilization of renewable feedstocks in developing energy, fuels and high-value-added chemicals is a significant step toward attaining more sustainable biorefinery strategies. As a result, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF), which may be further processed into a variety of bio-based liquid fuels, has been identified as one of the most suitable biomass-based materials. Thus, in this work, the essential utilization of renewable feedstocks in developing energy, fuels and high-value-added chemicals is a significant step toward attaining more sustainable biorefinery strategies. Herein, we report the application of deep eutectic solvents (DESs) as a catalyst in the presence of an economical dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)/water solvent technique plays a significant role in the production of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF) by dehydrating D-glucose via microwave (MW) facilitated heating method. Under a microwave heating technique at 150 °C for 30 min, the choline chloride (ChCl): malonic acid (MA) DES combination had the highest 5-HMF yield of 85.6%, with an activation energy (Ea) 28.53 kJ/mol. Under optimized diverse parameters, the proposed catalytic system ChCl: MA DES demonstrated a considerable yield and outstanding catalytic activity, with only a 6.3% decline in 5-HMF production after five recycling runs. Inclusively, we have proposed a cost-effective, simple, energy-efficient, and a new environmentally friendly method that could be useful in a number of biomass-based conversion processes.