Co-production of Furfural and HMF from Bamboo under Direct Catalytic Process and Its Optimization by Response Surface Methodology

The comprehensive production of biomass-based platform compounds from bamboo and its mechanical processing residues has broad prospects for high-value utilization. In this research, catalytic system of mixed solvent of water and 1,4-dioxane with catalyst AlCl₃and HCl applied on bamboo and delignified bamboo powder to achieve the one-pot co-production of 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) and furfural. The Box-Behnken Design (BBD) response surface methodology was applied to optimize the reaction parameters. The results showed that the predicted yields of HMF and furfural were 31.5 wt% and 21.0 wt%, respectively, while bamboo powder treated under the theoretically optimal conditions. Compared with the actual expericment yields of 31.2 wt% and 21.8 wt%, with relative errors both less than 5.0%, which verified the reliability of the model prediction and the stability of the optimization results. This method features simple operation and high reaction efficiency; the solvent used can be recovered and reused, and the catalyst is low-cost. It exhibits promising application prospects in the valuable utilization of bamboo processing waste and the field of green bio-based chemicals.