Monday, May 2, 2011
Grand Ballroom C-D, 2nd fl (Sheraton Seattle)
In an attempt to provid alternatives to petroleum based building blocks used in petrochemical refining, Furan derivatives obtained from lignocellulosic biomass derived carbonhydrates are viable substitutes. Preliminary work has been done by other researchers on converting glucose and fructose which are cellulose sugars into furanic compounds. But since lignocellulosic biolmass contains cellulose and hemicellulose sugars, there is a need to develop a carbon neutral method of converting the hemicellulose sugars into furanic compounds.
Hemicellulose, which is a branched polymer that contains many different types of sugars accounts for substantial part of lignocellulosic biomass as it is embedded in the cell walls of plants. One of the principal sugars obtained from Hemicellulose hydrolysis is xylose. In this paper, Chromium(II) chloride is combined with ionic liquids to facilitate the dehydration of xylose into furfural. Some other organic solvents are also added to improve the reaction effectively.