Sustainable Downstream Process Design for HMF Conversion to Value-Added Chemicals

Biomass conversion to chemical derivatives and essential intermediates is regarded as a long-term strategy for the chemical sector. Among the numerous valuable chemicals obtained from biomass, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) is considered an industrially relevant compound due to its capacity to be converted into a variety of value-added chemicals. Compared to conventional catalytic synthesis, bio-catalysis has emerged as a potential greener substitute for HMF conversion to value-added compounds. HMF conversion through bio-catalysis, although more sustainable, seldom leads to the production of a single derivative. Thus, the development of efficient purification and separation processes of several products are crucial to scalability. The downstream process for the novel enzymatic conversion of HMF to high value-added chemicals (i.e., 1-phenylethylamine, 2,5-bis(hydroxymethyl)furan, 1-phenylethylalcohol, and 5-(aminomethyl)-2-furanmethanol) was designed by means of rigorous simulations in Aspen Plus�. The proposed process resulted in product streams with 97 wt% or larger for their respective component, and at least 95% product recovery is attained for each value-added HMF derivative. The global greenhouse gas emissions for the manufacture of a kg of product is 2.26 kgCO2e/ kgproduct, while 0.086 m3wastewater/ kgproduct is generated. The proposed downstream sequence offers an overview of the feasibility for the scalability of the enzymatic process, crucial in developing sustainable bioprocesses.