Production of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) from rice-straw biomass using a HSO3-ZSM-5 zeolite catalyst under assistance of sonication.

This work studied the application of sulfonated ZSM-5 zeolite, a bi-functional catalyst for conversion of biomass-derived glucose to HMF. Glucose hydrolysate was obtained by enzymatic hydrolysis of rice straw, that was pretreated by sodium hydroxide. Glucose hydrolysate was then subjected to a transformation reaction to achieve HMF using HSO3-ZSM-5 zeolite under the assistance of sonication. The reaction conditions including solvent, temperature, catalyst dosage and reaction time were studied. Suitable conditions, which gave the highest yield of HMF of 54.1% have been found. The HSO3-ZSM-5 zeolite presented a high catalytic efficiency for conversion of glucose to HMF, an important and useful intermediate in the chemical industry.