Development of heteropolyacid catalysts and their application for the production of hydroxymethylfurfural from cellulose

Abstract

The growing search for sustainable alternatives able to supplying the needs of various sectors of human activity has led to the replacement of fossil raw materials by renewable sources in traditional industrial processes. In this way, the lignocellulosic biomass has gained relevance as one of the most promising alternatives. Lignocellulosic materials may be used for both production of liquid fuels and for the production of building block chemicals in a bio-based industry. The main advantages in the use of biomass is the renewable character, the reduction of the environmental impact, besides the low cost, since they are available as agroindustrial and forest residues such as sugarcane bagasse, corn, wheat or rice straw, among others. One of the possible chemical routes for the use of lignocellulosic materials in industrial processes are furan molecules, such as 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), which have a high potential for several applications. Because it is classified as a platform molecule, HMF is of great importance for development of biorefineries based on lignocellulosic biomass, since HMF is a precursor for other value-added chemicals (such as the production of bioplastics or liquid fuels). The production of HMF consists of hexoses dehydration in the furan ring form and in presence of acid catalysts. Sugars such as glucose have low furan ring content in aqueous media, which most often leads to low yields in HMF. High yields can be obtained when fructose is used as raw material, however, due to the high cost of this sugar, the process using fructose becomes less attractive for HMF large-scale production. Within this context, the present project aims to develop technologies for HMF production using cellulose as raw material, in the presence of acid catalysts. As the first stage of the project, studies will be carried out on the preparation conditions of the heteropolyacid catalysts in order to optimize the variables of greatest influence to HMF obtainement. In a next step, studies will be carried out to evaluate the reaction parameters able to influence HMF production from cellulose and glucose. Also, as a final step, kinetic parameters of the HMF production and technical-economic viability of the process, using simulation tools, will be evaluated. This project is relevant according to technological and environmental context, since it promotes the development of processes aimed at the use of lignocellulosic biomass to obtain platform molecules for the production of value-added chemicals that are currently obtained by oil. In this way, the development of technologies for HMF production is an important step for the consolidation of biorefineries based on lignocelluous biomass. (AU)