Biotechnological production of furfural from sugarcane straw/bagasse mixture

Abstract

Diluted sulfuric acid is one of the most pretreatments for lignocellulosic materials mainly due to its efficiency in the separation process of cell wall components. The hemicellulosic fraction obtained after pretreatment of the biomass can be converted into value-added chemicals such as xylitol, ethanol, butanol, succinic acid and furfural. Furfural is a chemical that can be used in a variety of industries. It is generally produced from agricultural waste containing pentoses as the main component, as for example from corncob, straw and rice husk. Usually, furfural can be produced in two ways. The first one is a hydrolysis process of the biomass into xylose, which is subsequently dehydrated in furfural, both reactions occur simultaneously in the same reactor. The other, consists in a two-phase process that begins with hydrolysis of the biomass into xylose in a reactor, followed by a second stage, a dehydration reaction, which is carried out in another reactor to obtain furfural. The advantage of the two-stage process is that the residue from process (cellulose) can be used for the production of other bioproducts (glucose, for example). The goal of this project is to evaluate operational variables (acid concentration, temperature and time of reaction) that have influence on the process for furfural production from a hemicellulosic hydrolysate obtained by acid hydrolysis of sugarcane biomass (straw/bagasse mixture), aiming to contribute to integral use of the biomass in biorefineries. (AU)