Carbocatalytic dehydration of xylose to furfural in water

  • Edmond Lam
  • , Jonathan H. Chong
  • , Ehsan Majid
  • , Yali Liu
  • , Sabahudin Hrapovic
  • , Alfred C.W. Leung
  • , John H.T. Luong

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Graphene, graphene oxide, sulfonated graphene, and sulfonated graphene oxide (SGO) have been prepared, characterized and tested for the dehydration of xylose to furfural in water. In particular, SGO was proven to be a rapid and water-tolerant solid acid catalyst even at very low catalyst loadings down to 0.5 wt.% vs xylose, maintaining its initial activity after 12 tested repetitions at 200 °C, with an average yield of 61% in comparison to 44% for the uncatalyzed system. Raman spectroscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, 13C solid state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and surface area analysis suggested that the aryl sulfonic acid groups were the key active sites for high temperature production of furfural in water. They were more thermally stable under the reaction conditions and acidic than other functional groups attached to the graphene surface.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1033-1043
Number of pages11
JournalCarbon
Volume50
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Mar 2012
Externally publishedYes

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