Enhancing Biogenic Formic Acid Production in the Modified OxFA Process by Acetonitrile Addition

V-NMR as well as optical UV-vis and electrochemical SWV investigations in combination with advanced pulse EPR measurements and DFT calculations clearly reveal the direct interactions of the co-solvents methanol and acetonitrile with the HPA-2 catalyst. This leads to improved selectivity for methanol addition whereby acetonitrile addition leads to both enhanced kinetics and improved selectivity on the kinetics of xylose oxidation to FA compared to the classical OxFA process in pure aqueous solution. This study shows interesting new correlations allowing us to further push the limits of the OxFA technology toward higher productivity.