Kinetic study of furfural production from Eucalyptus sawdust using H-SAPO-34 as solid Brønsted acid and Lewis acid catalysts in biomass-derived solvents

The production of platform chemicals from lignocellulosic biomass is scientifically valuable but technologically challenging. With the aim to establish a green reaction system for the production of furfural from lignocellulosic biomass, in the current work, H-SAPO-34 was investigated for catalysis of the conversion of Eucalyptus sawdust to furfural in γ-valerolactone (GVL). H-SAPO-34 was prepared and characterized by XRD, SEM, FTIR, BET, TGA and ammonia adsorbed FTIR. H-SAPO-34 possesses Brønsted and Lewis acid sites and a large specific surface area. The average pore diameter of H-SAPO-34 was 0.86 nm, which is beneficial for the spread of xylose and furfural and the inhibition of humin production. In this work, a peak furfural yield of 99.28% from Eucalyptus was achieved at 210 °C in 120 min with 30 g/L H-SAPO-34. The Brønsted/Lewis acid bifunctionality and the solvent effect of γ-valerolactone possibly contributed to the high furfural yield from real biomass. The kinetics of the conversion of Eucalyptus sawdust to furfural was also studied, and the activation energy for furfural production was calculated. Additionally, the catalytic activity and stability of the regenerated catalyst were estimated.