CHLORIDE SALTS AS CO-CATALYSTS FOR THE CONVERSION OF D-XYLOSE TO FURFURAL WITH FORMIC ACID AS CATALYST

The promotion of the catalytic performance of formic acid with different metal trichlorides was investigated for the conversion of xylose to furfural. The effects of reaction parameters, time, acid concentration and temperature, were also explored. The results showed an evident improvement on furfural selectivity to all catalytic reaction with formic acid combined with trichlorides, especially with AlCl3. However, the selectivity and rate of xylose conversion exhibited distinct behaviour depending on the trichloride catalyst applied to the formic acid system. An optimum furfural selectivity of 74% was achieved at 130 degrees C after 30 min of reaction, when complete xylose conversion was attained using 55 wt% formic acid and 5 wt% AlCl3 as catalysts. The investigation of this alternative and potential trichloride catalysts contributed to enhancing of the state-of-art of the green energy technologies.