Preparation of carbonaceous solid acid catalyst from Acacia mangium wood sawdust for conversion of same source into 5-hydroxymethylfurfural

A carbon-based solid acid catalyst was prepared by incomplete carbonization of Acacia mangium wood sawdust, treated with H3PO4 followed by sulfonation. FT-IR, BET, SEM, EDS and TPD-NH3 were used to characterize the structure and performance of the catalyst. Results showed that the catalyst formed was an amorphous carbon composed of aromatic carbon sheets with -COOH, -OH and -SO3H groups. Primary impregnation with H3PO4 could promote formation of mesoporous catalyst. The optimized carbonization temperature and time for the catalyst were 500 degrees C and 30 min. The -SO3H density and specific surface area for the catalyst prepared under the optimized conditions were about 2.9-3.2 mmol/g and 740 m(2)/g, respectively. The A. mangium wood sawdust was also used to produce hydroxymethylfurfural, utilizing the prepared solid catalyst. The biomass was pretreated by alkaline solution to obtain the pulp, which was saccharified by Novozymes commercial enzyme and then used for the conversion. The integrated scheme for the preparation of the solid acid catalyst and hydroxymethylfurfural from A. mangium wood is an efficient conversion method of wood biomass into green catalysts and chemicals.