Reaction extraction of furfural from pentose solutions in a modified Scheibel column

Furfural, which is one of the most promising platform chemicals derived from biomass, has the potential for the production of biofuels and biochemicals. However, the current industrial furfural production process relies on relatively old and inefficient technology, which has some problems such as low production yields, environmental pollutions, and lack of biomass comprehensive utilization. The main contribution of this paper is the use of a modified Scheibel column to improve the furfural recovery. Integration of pentose dehydration to furfural and the solvent phase extraction of furfural occurred simultaneously in this column. Compared with the prevailing batch biphasic reactor, the use of this modified column intensified the extraction efficiency as well as the furfural recovery. Process parameters including organic feed flow rate, reaction temperature, and stirring speed were evaluated and turned out to be significant. In order to achieve the optimal operating conditions, the CCD design was used to optimize the process parameters, and the maximum furfural yield of 80.5% was obtained.