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Updated: Dec 6, 2025
Reducing Willow Wood Fuel Emission by Low Temperature Microwave Assisted Hydrothermal Carbonization
Published on: May 19, 2019
The formation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural and hydrochar during the valorization of biomass using a microwave
Yuchao Shao1, Wenjing Lu2, Yanjun Meng1
1Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Solid Waste Treatment and Recycling, Instrumental Analysis Center, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Zhejiang Gongshang University, Hangzhou 310012, China.
Abstract:
5-Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) and levulinic acid (LA) are regarded as value-added platform chemicals that can be derived from biomass waste. However, humins are inevitably produced during valorization processes, reducing the product yields. Previous studies indicated that microwave heating combined with acidic seawater as a reaction medium promotes HMF formation. The present work therefore investigated the relationship between the production of HMF and LA in the liquid phase and that of insoluble humins (that is, hydrochar) under microwave heating in acidic seawater. The selectivities for HMF and LA were found to decrease as the reaction time was increased, as a result of hydrochar formation, and both dehydration and decarboxylation evidently dominated the production of hydrochar in succession. HMF evidently played the most important role in hydrochar formation, and was consumed approximately seven times more rapidly than either fructose or LA. The hydrochar formation mechanism reported herein may be applicable to other similar hydrothermal processes.
