Green and efficient production of furfural from corn cob over H-ZSM-5 using γ-valerolactone as solvent

γ-Valerolactone is an excellent green solvent for the conversion of lignocellulosic biomass into platform chemicals. A green and efficient production process of furfural from corn cob was investigated under mild reaction temperature (170-210 °C): γ-valerolactone as solvent, H-ZSM-5 as catalyst. A maximum furfural yield of 71.68% was obtained under 190 °C for 60 min with 35 g/L H-ZSM-5 (1.4 g H-ZSM-5/g corn cob).The high yield of furfural could be primarily explained by the highly catalytic activity of H-ZSM-5 and suppression of condensation reactions between intermediates and furfural molecular due to the solvent effect of γ-valerolactone. Infrared spectroscopy of pyridine adsorption was applied to measure the density of Brønsted and Lewis acid sites in the H-ZSM-5. The Brønsted acid sites density of H-ZSM-5 was 656 μmol/g. The results showed that Brønsted acid sites of H-ZSM-5 zeolite were critical components which was benefit for the furfural production. More significantly, the Saeman model was exploited to estimate the concentration of furfural which well agreed with the experimental data. Additionally, the activation energy for furfural production from corn cob was 67.67 kJ/mol, which was calculated by a modified Arrhenius equation. The model gave a profound knowledge in the furfural production process from corn cob with H-ZSM-5 zeolite in γ-valerolactone.