| 摘要 |
Furfural is produced by mixing an aqueous feedstock solution containing C5 sugar and/or C6 sugar with a heated, high boiling, water-miscible solvent, such as sulfolane, and a soluble acid catalyst. Furfural product and water are distilled off through a multistage distillation column, leaving non-volatile solvent behind. Typical furfural yields with sulfolane as the reaction solvent are about 80% at as high as 99% conversion. Also, certain by-products (e.g., humins) solubilized in the reaction solvent can be precipitated by addition of water or aqueous feedstock solution and then removed by filtration, thereby providing a convenient and effective way of removing these undesirable byproducts from the reaction mixture. |
