Specialty chemicals from sugars are destined to displace fermentation to alcohols due to their superior economic value and atom efficiency. Compared to bioethanol, retention of oxygen functional groups increases by 2–5 times the market value of specialty chemicals like furfural, 2,5-furan dicarboxylic acid, 2,5-dimethyl furan, and γ-valerolactone. For the first time, we report a gas-phase process that converts C-6 monosaccharides to furfural in a microfluidized bed reactor. A spray nozzle inserted directly into the catalytic bed atomizes a fructose–water solution to micron-sized droplets; water evaporates, and WO₃/TiO₂ converts fructose to furfural. Furfural yield reached 22% after 3 h time-on-stream with 15% diformyl furan as coproduct. Acetic acid yield was mostly below 10% but was as high as 27%. During the initial tests, coke and catalyst agglomerates blocked the sparger tip, and run time varied between 1 and 3 h. Insulating the nozzle leading into the bed reduced the injector wall temperature and improved reactor operability; the 15 mm i.d. reactor ran continuously for 19 h after this modification.

中文翻译：

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在微流化床反应器中将气相果糖转化为糠醛

由于糖的特殊经济价值和原子效率，它们将糖类的特殊化学物质取代为酒精的发酵产物。与生物乙醇相比，氧官能团的保留量增加了糠醛，2,5-呋喃二羧酸，2,5-二甲基呋喃和γ-戊内酯等特种化学品的市场价值的2-3倍。我们首次报道了在微流化床反应器中将C-6单糖转化为糠醛的气相过程。直接插入催化床中的喷嘴将果糖水溶液雾化成微米大小的液滴。水蒸发，WO ₃ / TiO ₂将果糖转化为糠醛。投入运行3小时后，糠醛收率达到22％，其中副甲酰呋喃为15％。醋酸收率大多低​​于10％，但高达27％。在初始测试期间，焦炭和催化剂附聚物阻塞了喷头，运行时间在1-3小时之间变化。使喷嘴进入床层的隔热层降低了进样器壁的温度，并提高了反应器的可操作性。修改后，内径15 mm的反应器连续运行19 h。