Process for preparing furan-2,5-dicarboxylic acid

• Main Authors: Schunk, Stephan A, Teles, Joaquim Henrique, Backes, Rene, Werhan, Holger, Zhang, Lei, Piepenbrink, Markus, Gordillo, Alvaro, Dehn, Richard, Blank, Benoit
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 20.08.2019
• Subjects: CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROCESSES, e.g. CATALYSIS OR COLLOIDCHEMISTRY; CHEMISTRY; HETEROCYCLIC COMPOUNDS; METALLURGY; ORGANIC CHEMISTRY; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL; THEIR RELEVANT APPARATUS; TRANSPORTING

A process for preparing furan-2,5-dicarboxylic acid is disclosed. The process includes the following steps: preparing or providing a starting mixture including 5-(hydroxy-methyl)furfural (HMF), 5,5′-[oxy-bis(methylene)]bis-2-furfural (di-HMF), and water; subjecting said starting mixture to oxidation conditions in the presence of an oxygen-containing gas and a catalytically effective amount of a heterogeneous catalyst including one or more noble metals on a support so that both HMF and di-HMF react to give furane-2,5-dicarboxylic acid in a product mixture also including water and oxidation by-products. The use of a catalyst is also disclosed, the catalyst including one or more noble metals on a support as an heterogeneous oxidation catalyst for catalyzing in an aqueous starting mixture the reaction of both HMF and di-HMF to furane-2,5-dicarboxylic acid.