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High‐Yield 5‐Hydroxymethylfurfural Synthesis from Crude Sugar Beet Juice in a Biphasic Microreactor
Author(s) -
AbdillaSantes Ria M.,
Guo Wenze,
Bruijnincx Pieter C. A.,
Yue Jun,
Deuss Peter J.,
Heeres Hero J.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
chemsuschem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.412
H-Index - 157
eISSN - 1864-564X
pISSN - 1864-5631
DOI - 10.1002/cssc.201901115
Subject(s) - chemistry , selectivity , sugar , sucrose , fructose , hydrolysis , yield (engineering) , raw material , hydroxymethylfurfural , organic chemistry , catalysis , microreactor , chromatography , furfural , materials science , metallurgy
5‐Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) is an important biobased platform chemical obtainable in high selectivity by the hydrolysis of fructose (FRC). However, FRC is expensive, making the production of HMF at a competitive market price highly challenging. Here, it is shown that sugar beet thick juice, a crude, sucrose‐rich intermediate in sugar refining, is an excellent feedstock for HMF synthesis. Unprecedented high selectivities and yields of >90 % for HMF were achieved in a biphasic reactor setup at 150 °C using salted diluted thick juice with H 2 SO 4 as catalyst and 2‐methyltetrahydrofuran as a bioderived extraction solvent. The conversion of glucose, obtained by sucrose inversion, could be limited to <10 mol %, allowing its recovery for further use. Interestingly, purified sucrose led to significantly lower HMF selectivity and yields, showing advantages from both an economic and chemical selectivity perspective. This opens new avenues for more cost‐effective HMF production.