Current Situation of the Challenging Scale-Up Development of Hydroxymethylfurfural Production

Catherine Thoma; Johannes Konnerth; Wilfried Sailer-Kronlachner; Pia Solt; Thomas Rosenau; Hendrikus W G van Herwijnen

doi:10.1002/cssc.202000581

Current Situation of the Challenging Scale-Up Development of Hydroxymethylfurfural Production

ChemSusChem. 2020 Jul 22;13(14):3544-3564. doi: 10.1002/cssc.202000581. Epub 2020 Jun 4.

Authors

Catherine Thoma^{1

2}, Johannes Konnerth², Wilfried Sailer-Kronlachner^{1

2}, Pia Solt¹, Thomas Rosenau³, Hendrikus W G van Herwijnen¹

Affiliations

¹ Area Wood Materials Technologies, Wood K Plus-Kompetenzzentrum Holz GmbH, Altenberger Str. 69, 4040, Linz, Austria.
² Institute of Wood Technology and Renewable Materials, Department of Material Science and Process Engineering, BOKU- University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Konrad Lorenz Str. 24, 3430, Tulln, Austria.
³ Institute of Chemistry of Renewable Resources, Department of Chemistry, BOKU University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Muthgasse 18, 1190, Vienna, Austria.

Abstract

Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) is a high-value platform chemical derived from renewable resources. In recent years, considerable efforts have been made to produce HMF also at industrial scale, which still faces some challenges regarding yield as well as sustainable and economic process designs. This critical Review evaluates the industrial process development of sustainable biomass conversion to HMF. Qualitative and quantitative guidelines are defined for the technological assessment of the processes described in patent literature. The formation of side products, difficulties in the separation and purification of HMF as well as catalyst regeneration were identified as major challenges in the HMF production. A first small-scale, commercial HMF production plant with a capacity of 300 t_HMF per year has been operating in Switzerland since 2014.

Keywords: biomass; hydroxymethylfurfural; industrial production; process development; sustainability.

Publication types

Review

Abstract

Publication types

Grants and funding