Production of Furfural from Sisal Bole Bagasse in a single-stage Simultaneous Biomass Fractionation and Pentose Conversion reaction using H2SO4/MIBK Biphasic Solvent System

Abstract

Furfural, a green bio-based chemical and a promising renewable platform compound is commonly produced from hydrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass in an acidic medium through pentose dehydration. This study systematically investigated the influence of three operating parameters, namely temperature, acid concentration, and reaction time on the yield of furfural and the formation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) in a simultaneous Sisal Bole Bagasse (SBB) fractionation and conversion in an aqueous H₂SO₄/MIBK Biphasic Solvent System. The statistical software Minitab V. 21 was used to design the experiments, evaluate the main effects and interactions and optimize the parameters using response surface methodology (RSM) technique with Central Composite Design (CCD). Biomass analysis of SBB showed that the structural carbohydrates responsible as substrates for furans production (glucan and xylan) amounted to approximately 49% of the SSB, with 5.3% pentosans and 14.7% lignin content. The developed regression model was statistically significant and showed that acid concentration and reaction temperature played a vital influence in furfural production from sisal bole bagasse as compared to time. The acid concentration showed significant interaction with both temperature and reaction time while the square term coefficient for reaction time also appeared to be significant. The model prediction showed that the optimum yield for both furfural (9.65%) and HMF (8.24%) was obtained at process temperature of 170 °C, 75 minutes and acid concentration of 1.2 (wt. %). This study has shown the potential of using sisal boles bagasse as a source of furfural production, thus increasing the utilization of the sisal plant and reduce the dependency on edible food resources for the production of these non-petroleum based, chemical feedstock compounds