Saccharification of Acacia mangium wood sawdust with dilute sulfuric acid for furfural production

This paper presents research results regarding acid hydrolysis of Acacia mangium wood sawdust forming xylose for further production of furfural. The optimization of the hydrolysis process in a hydrolyzer and pilot scale was studied. Optimal conditions of the hydrolysis were established as follows: temperature was increased from 100 to 140 o C within approx. 35 min, retention time at the maximum temperature was 25‐50 minutes, sulfuric acid concentration of 0.75 %, solid‐to‐liquor ratio of 1:8. Under these conditions, xylose yield was 7.59 % over the oven dried amount of the wood sawdust used. The glucose (0.93 % w/w) and furfural (0.33 % w/w) were obtained as by‐products of the hydrolysis process. The furfural synthesis from the obtained xylose was successfully carried out.