Selective yields of furfural and hydroxymethylfurfural from glucose in tetrahydrofuran over Hβ zeolite

Several simple and effective solvents combined with Hβ zeolite were tested to selectively convert glucose into furfural and hydroxymethylfurfural in this work. The physicochemical properties of typically different polar aprotic solvents were compared. Tetrahydrofuran was found to be a suitable solvent in the selective conversion of glucose. The effect of reaction parameters, such as temperature, reaction time, water content, glucose dosage and protonic acid addition, on the product distribution were investigated in detail. Furfural and hydroxymethylfurfural could be selectively produced in this system, and the highest yields of furfural and hydroxymethylfurfural were up to 35.2% and 49.7% respectively. Furfural could be stable in a tetrahydrofuran medium when adding 5 wt% water in the absence of extra protonic acid. However, furfural production was extremely suppressed after addition of an acidic inorganic salt, which increased the yield of hydroxymethylfurfural. This investigation indicates a simple and feasible method to selectively produce furfural and hydroxymethylfurfural from renewable cellulosic carbohydrates.