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.
糠醛是通过将含有C5糖和/或C6糖的
水溶性原料溶液与加热的高沸点、可溶于
水的溶剂(如磺酰胺)和可溶的酸催化剂混合而产生的。通过多级蒸馏柱蒸馏出
糠醛产品和
水,留下不挥发的溶剂。在使用磺酰胺作为反应溶剂的情况下,典型的
糠醛产率为80%,转化率高达99%。此外,反应溶剂中溶解的某些副产物(如褐质物)可以通过加
水或
水性原料溶液沉淀,然后通过过滤去除,从而提供了一种方便有效的方法,以从反应混合物中去除这些不良副产物。