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US 2013/0172585 A1Published application
Process for the production of furfural
AssigneeE. I. Du Pont de Nemours and Company
InventorsStuart B. Fergusson, Michael Stephen Mckinnon, Ronnie Ozer
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Furfural is produced by contacting an aqueous feedstock solution containing C5 sugar and/or C6 sugar using a soluble acid catalyst with reactive distillation. Both high yield and high conversion are obtained in the reaction vessel. Degradation of furfural is minimized by its low residence time in contact with the acid catalyst. The use of staged distillation improves the furfural yield.
Claims14
A process comprising:
- (a) providing a reactor comprising a reactive distillation column disposed on top of a reboiler and an aqueous acid solution disposed in a reaction zone of the reboiler;
- (b) bringing an aqueous feedstock solution into contact with the aqueous acid solution in the reaction zone for a residence time sufficient to produce a mixture of water and furfural, wherein the aqueous feedstock solution comprises C5 sugar, C6 sugar or a mixture thereof, and the reaction zone is at a temperature in the range of 90-250° C. and a pressure in the range of 0.1-3.87 M Pa;
- (c) removing the mixture of water and furfural from the top of the reactive distillation column;
- and
- (d) collecting water, unreacted sugars and nonvolatile byproducts from the reboiler.
2 more elements
A process comprising the steps of:
- (a) providing a reactor comprising a multistage reactive distillation column comprising an upper, rectifying section;
- a lower, stripping section;
- and a reboiler, wherein the reboiler is a reaction zone containing an aqueous acid solution;
- (b) continuously feeding an aqueous feedstock sugar solution comprising C5 sugar, C6 sugar or a mixture thereof to the reboiler, or to the column at any point, into contact with the aqueous acid solution, thereby forming a reaction mixture, wherein
- (i) the temperature of the reaction mixture is between 90° C. and 250° C.
- (ii) the reaction mixture is held at a pressure between about atmospheric pressure and 400 psig, and
- (iii) the feedstock sugar solution and aqueous acid catalyst solution are in contact for a time sufficient to produce water and furfural;
- (c) drawing off a mixture of furfural and water at the top of the column;
- (d) collecting water, unreacted sugars, and nonvolatile byproducts in the reboiler;
- (e) removing nonvolatile byproducts from the reboiler;
- and
- (f) removing the water and unreacted sugars from the reboiler for further use or disposal.
9 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.