Catalytic Conversion of Sugarcane Bagasse into Furfural
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Date
2022-04
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The production of furfural, high-value-added platform chemicals, is hampered by the typical
drawbacks of homogeneous acid catalysts, such as difficulty in separating the catalyst from the
reaction mixture. As a result, developing a heterogeneous catalyst to overcome the limitations of
current commercial processes is highly desirable. The carbon-based catalysts were synthesized
by carbonizing and functionalizing teff-straw as a carbon precursor in concentrated sulfuric acid
simultaneously and showed the ability to dehydrate xylan/xylose to generate furfural. As shown
by FTIR, the catalyst comprises functional groups such as –SO
3
iv
H, –COOH, and –OH, which are
extremely beneficial to catalytic performance. The elemental analysis of the samples also
confirmed the successful attachment of sulfur to the carbon structure and XRD results, the
diffraction peak at 2 from 15 to 30
o
, depicted the amorphous nature of the catalyst prepared.
Experimental runs, catalytic and thermal, were carried out over the prepared catalyst to
investigate catalytic activities such as overall conversion, selectivity, and catalyst stability.
Conversion of xylose to furfural was investigated using a Teff straw-based sulfonated catalyst
(TSSC) in water/toluene as an extraction medium. A maximum furfural yield of 62.50% was
obtained at 190°C for 20 min with 0.2g solid acid.
Besides, hydrolysis of sugarcane bagasse to xylose using a dilute sulfuric acid catalyst was
investigated. An optimum xylose yield of roughly 0.18g/g of dry bagasse was obtained in 32
minutes with 0.77% sulfuric acid at 143 °C. Model-Based Calibration Toolbox in MATLAB
software was used for the design of experiments, statistical modeling, and optimization.
Although the combined effect of temperature, acid concentration, and time was positive towards
the formation of glucose and furfural, harsher treatment conditions showed negative effects on
the yield of xylose. The experimental data were analyzed to create a kinetic model for lignocellulosic biomass
conversion to furfural using the synthesized catalyst. The kinetic model for the dehydration of
xylose to furfural was developed using experimental data obtained based on the Central
composite design. The well-evaluated kinetic model matched well with the experimental data
and kinetic parameters. The thermodynamic analysis suggested that the presence of toluene, in
the reaction system, as a solvent for instantaneous extraction of furfural enhanced furfural
production while decreasing degradation rate as compared to water-only system.
Description
Keywords
Sugarcane Bagasse, Catalytic Conversion, Furfural