Schematic illustration of lignocellulose (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.chemrev.7b00395)

After Ethanol, Furfural is the second oldest commercially produced initial platform chemical (IPCs) made from lignocellulose. 100 years ago, the first commercial production of furfural started at Quaker Oats Cedar Rapid’s factory. Although other IPCs have been identified (e.g. 3-hydroxypropionic acid, isoprene, succinic and levulinic acids and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural) as chemical building blocks which could partially or even fully replace the currently utilised fossil-based ones, very little progress has been made to produce them at large industrial scale.

In the publication “Catalytic Conversion of Carbohydrates to Initial Platform Chemicals: Chemistry and Sustainability“, published 5 years ago, the authors correctly identified that

their sustainable production strongly depends on the availability of resources, their efficient or even industrially viable conversion processes, and replenishment time of feedstocks.

References:

• Catalytic Conversion of Carbohydrates to Initial Platform Chemicals: Chemistry and Sustainability (https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemrev.7b00395)