Literature Review on Furfural Production from Lignocellulosic Biomass

Abstract

The use of renewable sources for obtainment of chemicals, biofuels, materials and energy has become each time larger due to environmental, political and economical problems of non-renewable energies utilization. Among several products that can be obtained from lignocellulosic biomass, which is a renewable source, there is furfural, a chemical from which many other value added chemical products can be obtained. The main route for furfural production consists of an acid hydrolysis of hemicelluloses present in lignocellulosic biomass to obtain xylose, which goes through a dehydration reaction to produce furfural. Due to the presence of an aldehyde group and a conjugated system of double bounds, furfural can go through several reactions, allowing the production of a range of value added products. In this sense, this article performs a review about mechanisms of furfural production from lignocellulosic biomass, highlighting its chemical properties which enable its utilization in different industrial applications of economic interest.