SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONTINUOUSLY PREPARING FURFURAL USING ACID-CONTAINING PENTOSE SOLUTION

• Main Authors: XU, Bin, CHOW, Connie Hiu Ying, LU, Junde, SIU, Kam Shing
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French; German
• Published: 07.07.2021
• Subjects: CHEMISTRY; HETEROCYCLIC COMPOUNDS; METALLURGY; ORGANIC CHEMISTRY; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL; SEPARATION; TRANSPORTING

The present invention discloses a system and a method for continuously preparing furfural using an acid-containing pentose solution. The system comprises a stripping reaction column, a separation unit, and a purification unit. The method comprises a stripping reaction step, a separation step, and a purification step. The system and the method of the present invention can use a liquid inorganic acid as a catalyst, has a strong catalytic capability and a low reaction temperature, and is capable of treating low concentration sugar liquids. The present invention adopts heating through directly vapor stripping to rapidly carry away a generated furfural along with the vapor while reacting a pentose, avoiding side reactions of the furfural in an acidic liquid environment. The reaction process of the present invention does not require any extracting agent, and the furfural carried away along with the vapor is easy to separate after cooling. The whole process has a reasonable design, high furfural yields and low unit energy consumption.