Furfural production: A review on reaction mechanism and conventional production process

Furfural is one of few important chemicals that can be obtained entirely from agricultural and forestry wastes including corn cobs, corn stalks, oat and wheat bran. It is one of the most competitive bio-based platform compounds which can be used as solvent and for the synthesis of more than 1600 chemical products directly or indirectly. Although the yield of furfural reported in the lab is improving, that of the large-scale manufacture is still low with low selectivity. In addition, with the concept of sustainability, the significant generation of waste is receiving concerns in the industry. To help improve the production process, understanding the reaction mechanisms is essential. This paper reviews the studies of such reaction mechanism and corresponding results with different conditions.