Towards efficient and greener processes for furfural production from biomass: A review of the recent trends

As mentioned in several recent reviews, biomass-based furfural is attracting increasing interest as a feasible alternative for the synthesis of a wide range of non-petroleum-derived compounds. However, the lack of environmentally friendly, cost-effective, and sustainable industrial procedures is sti...

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Main Authors: Cousin, Elsa, Namhaed, Kritsana, Peres, Yolande, Cognet, Patrick, Delmas, Michel, Hermansyah, Heri, Gozan, Misri, Alaba, Peter Adeniyi, Aroua, Mohamed Kheireddine
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Published: Elsevier 2022
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Online Access:http://eprints.um.edu.my/40339/
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spelling my.um.eprints.403392023-11-23T02:36:44Z http://eprints.um.edu.my/40339/ Towards efficient and greener processes for furfural production from biomass: A review of the recent trends Cousin, Elsa Namhaed, Kritsana Peres, Yolande Cognet, Patrick Delmas, Michel Hermansyah, Heri Gozan, Misri Alaba, Peter Adeniyi Aroua, Mohamed Kheireddine GE Environmental Sciences TP Chemical technology As mentioned in several recent reviews, biomass-based furfural is attracting increasing interest as a feasible alternative for the synthesis of a wide range of non-petroleum-derived compounds. However, the lack of environmentally friendly, cost-effective, and sustainable industrial procedures is still evident. This review describes the chemical and biological routes for furfural production. The mechanisms proposed for the chemical transformation of xylose to furfural are detailed, as are the current advances in the manufacture of furfural from biomass. The main goal is to overview the different ways of improving the furfural synthesis process. A pretreatment process, particularly chemical and physico-chemical, enhances the digestibility of biomass, leading to the production of > 70 % of available sugars for the production of valuable products. The combination of heterogeneous (zeolite and polymeric solid) catalyst and bi-phasic solvent system (water/GVL and water/CPME) is regarded as an attractive approach, affording > 75 % furfural yield for over 80 % of selectivity with the possibility of catalyst reuse. Microwave heating as an activation technique reduces reaction time at least tenfold, making the process more sustainable. The state of the art in industrial processes is also discussed. It shows that, when sulfuric acid is used, the furfural yields do not exceed 55 % for temperatures close to 180 degrees C. However, the MTC process recently achieved an 83 % yield by continuously removing furfural from the liq-uid phase. Finally, the CIMV process, using a formic acid/acetic acid mixture, has been developed. The economic as-pects of furfural production are then addressed. Future research will be needed to investigate scaling-up and biological techniques that produce acceptable yields and productivities to become commercially viable and competitive in furfu-ral production from biomass. Elsevier 2022-11-15 Article PeerReviewed Cousin, Elsa and Namhaed, Kritsana and Peres, Yolande and Cognet, Patrick and Delmas, Michel and Hermansyah, Heri and Gozan, Misri and Alaba, Peter Adeniyi and Aroua, Mohamed Kheireddine (2022) Towards efficient and greener processes for furfural production from biomass: A review of the recent trends. Science of the Total Environment, 847. ISSN 0048-9697, DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157599 <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157599>. 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157599
institution Universiti Malaya
building UM Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Malaya
content_source UM Research Repository
url_provider http://eprints.um.edu.my/
topic GE Environmental Sciences
TP Chemical technology
spellingShingle GE Environmental Sciences
TP Chemical technology
Cousin, Elsa
Namhaed, Kritsana
Peres, Yolande
Cognet, Patrick
Delmas, Michel
Hermansyah, Heri
Gozan, Misri
Alaba, Peter Adeniyi
Aroua, Mohamed Kheireddine
Towards efficient and greener processes for furfural production from biomass: A review of the recent trends
description As mentioned in several recent reviews, biomass-based furfural is attracting increasing interest as a feasible alternative for the synthesis of a wide range of non-petroleum-derived compounds. However, the lack of environmentally friendly, cost-effective, and sustainable industrial procedures is still evident. This review describes the chemical and biological routes for furfural production. The mechanisms proposed for the chemical transformation of xylose to furfural are detailed, as are the current advances in the manufacture of furfural from biomass. The main goal is to overview the different ways of improving the furfural synthesis process. A pretreatment process, particularly chemical and physico-chemical, enhances the digestibility of biomass, leading to the production of > 70 % of available sugars for the production of valuable products. The combination of heterogeneous (zeolite and polymeric solid) catalyst and bi-phasic solvent system (water/GVL and water/CPME) is regarded as an attractive approach, affording > 75 % furfural yield for over 80 % of selectivity with the possibility of catalyst reuse. Microwave heating as an activation technique reduces reaction time at least tenfold, making the process more sustainable. The state of the art in industrial processes is also discussed. It shows that, when sulfuric acid is used, the furfural yields do not exceed 55 % for temperatures close to 180 degrees C. However, the MTC process recently achieved an 83 % yield by continuously removing furfural from the liq-uid phase. Finally, the CIMV process, using a formic acid/acetic acid mixture, has been developed. The economic as-pects of furfural production are then addressed. Future research will be needed to investigate scaling-up and biological techniques that produce acceptable yields and productivities to become commercially viable and competitive in furfu-ral production from biomass.
format Article
author Cousin, Elsa
Namhaed, Kritsana
Peres, Yolande
Cognet, Patrick
Delmas, Michel
Hermansyah, Heri
Gozan, Misri
Alaba, Peter Adeniyi
Aroua, Mohamed Kheireddine
author_facet Cousin, Elsa
Namhaed, Kritsana
Peres, Yolande
Cognet, Patrick
Delmas, Michel
Hermansyah, Heri
Gozan, Misri
Alaba, Peter Adeniyi
Aroua, Mohamed Kheireddine
author_sort Cousin, Elsa
title Towards efficient and greener processes for furfural production from biomass: A review of the recent trends
title_short Towards efficient and greener processes for furfural production from biomass: A review of the recent trends
title_full Towards efficient and greener processes for furfural production from biomass: A review of the recent trends
title_fullStr Towards efficient and greener processes for furfural production from biomass: A review of the recent trends
title_full_unstemmed Towards efficient and greener processes for furfural production from biomass: A review of the recent trends
title_sort towards efficient and greener processes for furfural production from biomass: a review of the recent trends
publisher Elsevier
publishDate 2022
url http://eprints.um.edu.my/40339/
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