Levulinic acid is a significant platform chemical obtained from biomass and can potentially be used to produce value-added biofuels, biopolymers, and biopharmaceuticals. This study aims at statistically optimizing levulinic acid production from agrowastes. Based on the total carbohydrate content (71.93 %), corncob was selected as the target feedstock. A Box-Behnken design with four factors, such as feedstock concentration, reaction time, reaction temperature, and catalyst concentration, was used to optimize the hydrothermal conversion of corncob to levulinic acid at 180 °C for 30 min using 1 M H2SO4 as the acid catalyst and 120 g/L corncob. The maximum yield of 19.9 % was obtained. Additionally, 8.1 g/L formic acid was co-produced. The results of this study can contribute toward valorization of levulinic acid. Moreover, our results can be useful in developing strategies to utilize agrowastes as a renewable feedstock for recent biorefineries to cope with the climate crisis.
Keywords: Acidic hydrothermal conversion; Agrowaste; Box–Behnken design; Levulinic acid; Response surface methodology.
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