Economical production of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural from sorghum juice as inexpensive feedstock in an acetone/water solvent system

5-Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), regarded as a vital link between bio-refining and petrochemical refining, demonstrates significant potential to produce sustainable chemicals, fuels, and materials. However, its reliance on food-grade sugars as feedstock limits economic feasibility. This study demonstrates that sweet sorghum juice, rich in fructose, glucose, and sucrose, is an ideal, low-cost raw material for HMF production. Using HCl as catalyst, fructose in sweet sorghum juice was fully converted, yielding over 90% HMF in 80/20 (v/v) acetone/ water solvent system, with more than 85% of glucose retained for recycling. When AlCl 3 was used as catalyst, all sugars were efficiently converted, yielding over 70% HMF. Impurities in the pretreated juice did not impede sugar conversion but did partially neutralize the acidic catalyst. Techno-economic analysis revealed that utilizing sweet sorghum juice as feedstock produces HMF at a minimum selling price of $1909 per ton, a 39.6% reduction compared to fructose-based.