Fructose dehydration to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural: Remarkable solvent influence on recyclability of Amberlyst-15 catalyst and regeneration studies

•Fructose dehydration to HMF using Amberlyst-15 was studied in DMF and DMSO.•DMSO is more efficient solvent than DMF in terms of catalyst recycling.•The activity of the dead catalyst was regenerated by dilute acid treatment.•Yield of HMF increased by simply scrubbing the catalyst particle surface.

Dehydration of fructose to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) using Amberlyst-15 catalyst showed significant loss in activity upon reuse in N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) while no activity loss in dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) even up to seven cycles. The activity variation was monitored through HMF yield, pH and acidity of the catalyst. The loss in activity is attributed to neutralization of amine groups of DMF with acid sites as supported by FT-IR and elemental analysis measurements. Simple dilute acid treatment on the dead catalyst restored activity in DMF. Incidentally, the initial activity increased upon simple mechanical scrubbing of catalyst particles.

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