Solvent system for effective near-term production of hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) with potential for long-term process improvement. Issue 7 (23rd April 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Motagamwala, Ali Hussain; Huang, Kefeng; Maravelias, Christos T.; Dumesic, James A.
• Is Part Of: Energy & environmental science. Volume 12:Issue 7(2019)
• Page Start: 2212
• Page End: 2222
• Publication Date: 2019-04-23
• Subjects: Energy conversion -- Periodicals; Fuel switching -- Periodicals; Environmental sciences -- Periodicals; Environmental chemistry -- Periodicals; 333.79
• DOI: 10.1039/c9ee00447e
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1754-5692

Abstract

Abstract : A process that upgrades biomass-derived sugars to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), a value-added platform molecule, is presented. The proposed process is ideally suited for integration with the current HFCS process and has the potential for long-term process improvement. Abstract : Production of renewable chemicals to mitigate the deleterious effects of greenhouse gas emissions requires technologies that are cost-competitive with the fossil-fuel industry, require low capital investment, and produce high-value products. We report production of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), a valuable platform molecule from biomass-derived carbohydrates at high yields (>90%) and with excellent carbon balance (>95%) using an inexpensive solvent system composed of acetone and water. We demonstrate that HMF, a thermally unstable molecule, can be separated from this low boiling solvent system with high recovery (96%) and purity (∼99%). We show that fructose is selectively dehydrated in this solvent system from a mixture of glucose and fructose, a property that can be leveraged to integrate the proposed process with current processes for the production of high fructose corn syrup. Techno-economic analysis indicates that utilizing fructose as feedstock leads to low investment (16 MM$) and produces HMF at a minimum selling price (MSP) of $1710 per ton. The MSP can be further reduced to $1460 per ton by changing the feedstock to glucose.