TY - JOUR
T1 - Investigation into Lewis and Brønsted acid interactions between metal chloride and aqueous choline chloride-oxalic acid for enhanced furfural production from lignocellulosic biomass
AU - Lee, Cornelius Basil Tien Loong
AU - Wu, Ta Yeong
AU - Yong, Khai Jie
AU - Cheng, Chin Kui
AU - Siow, Lee Fong
AU - Jahim, Jamaliah Md.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by funding from the Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia, under the Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS/1/2019/WAB01/MUSM/02/1). The authors would also like to acknowledge Monash University Malaysia for providing a Ph.D. scholarship to C.B.T.L. Lee. Lastly, C.K. Cheng would like to acknowledge the Khalifa University (RC2-2018-024) Phase 2 fund with project reference number 8474000133.
Funding Information:
This work was supported by funding from the Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia , under the Fundamental Research Grant Scheme ( FRGS/1/2019/WAB01/MUSM/02/1 ). The authors would also like to acknowledge Monash University Malaysia for providing a Ph.D. scholarship to C.B.T.L. Lee. Lastly, C.K. Cheng would like to acknowledge the Khalifa University (RC2-2018-024) Phase 2 fund with project reference number 8474000133.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2022/6/25
Y1 - 2022/6/25
N2 - Furfural has been identified as a valuable biobased platform chemical that can be further converted into bioenergy and biochemicals. Furfural is derived from lignocellulosic biomass and can also be regarded as a sustainable alternative to petrochemical products. Herein, the performance of trivalent metal chlorides (FeCl3, AlCl3) and tetravalent metal chlorides (SnCl4, TeCl4) as Lewis acidic cocatalysts was investigated in an aqueous choline chloride-oxalic acid (16.4 wt% H2O) deep eutectic solvent (DES) system for producing furfural from oil palm fronds (OPFs). The metal chlorides with greater electrical field gradients were stronger Lewis acids that enhanced both furfural production and degradation reactions. The main degradation product in this reaction system was humin, and this result was confirmed by FTIR analysis. By subjecting OPFs to an aqueous DES reaction (120 °C, 45 min) with SnCl4 (2.50 wt%), a furfural yield of 59.4% was obtained; without incorporated metal chlorides, the furfural yield was 46.1%. Characterization studies showed synergistic Lewis and Brønsted acid interactions between metal chlorides and DES components. Overall, the residual OPFs showed high glucan content, which led to the production of glucose (71.4%) as a byproduct via enzymatic hydrolysis. Additionally, the aqueous DES system was recycled and reused for several additional runs. The proposed aqueous DES system presents a promising biorefinery approach for the conversion of OPFs to biochemicals.
AB - Furfural has been identified as a valuable biobased platform chemical that can be further converted into bioenergy and biochemicals. Furfural is derived from lignocellulosic biomass and can also be regarded as a sustainable alternative to petrochemical products. Herein, the performance of trivalent metal chlorides (FeCl3, AlCl3) and tetravalent metal chlorides (SnCl4, TeCl4) as Lewis acidic cocatalysts was investigated in an aqueous choline chloride-oxalic acid (16.4 wt% H2O) deep eutectic solvent (DES) system for producing furfural from oil palm fronds (OPFs). The metal chlorides with greater electrical field gradients were stronger Lewis acids that enhanced both furfural production and degradation reactions. The main degradation product in this reaction system was humin, and this result was confirmed by FTIR analysis. By subjecting OPFs to an aqueous DES reaction (120 °C, 45 min) with SnCl4 (2.50 wt%), a furfural yield of 59.4% was obtained; without incorporated metal chlorides, the furfural yield was 46.1%. Characterization studies showed synergistic Lewis and Brønsted acid interactions between metal chlorides and DES components. Overall, the residual OPFs showed high glucan content, which led to the production of glucose (71.4%) as a byproduct via enzymatic hydrolysis. Additionally, the aqueous DES system was recycled and reused for several additional runs. The proposed aqueous DES system presents a promising biorefinery approach for the conversion of OPFs to biochemicals.
KW - Biomass valorization
KW - Biorefinery
KW - Metal chloride
KW - Oil palm fronds
KW - Wood technology
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85125786803&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154049
DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154049
M3 - Article
C2 - 35202677
AN - SCOPUS:85125786803
VL - 827
JO - Science of the Total Environment
JF - Science of the Total Environment
SN - 0048-9697
M1 - 154049
ER -