Sustainable production of furfural and 5-hidroximetilfurfural from rice husks and soybean peel by using ionic liquid

Abstract In the current search for renewable energy sources, residual biomass has been highlighted as a potential source of chemical compounds that are currently obtained from petroleum. Among the derivatives obtained from this, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural and furfural are considered key parts in this process as they are key compounds in the fine chemical industry. This work aims at the use of the rice husks and soybean peel for the synthesis of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural and furfural using the ionic liquid [BMIM][Br]. The physical pre-treatment of biomasses was carried out followed by acid hydrolysis. For the synthesis of the furanic compounds, different temperatures and reaction times were used. The products obtained in each step were analyzed by infrared spectrophotometry and by high performance liquid chromatography. The best yields for rice husks was obtained with 4 hours of reaction at 120 °C (34%) and for soy peel with 3 hours of reaction at 120 °C (59%), for furfural production. For 5-hydroxymethylfurfural production the yields were 8.7% and 3.4% for rice and soy husks, respectively. It was found that glucose was the main group related to bio-products obtaining.