A comparative study on the chemo-enzymatic upgrading of renewable biomass to 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural

ABSTRACT

5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) obtained from renewable biomass-derived carbohydrates is a potential sustainable substitute to petroleum-based building blocks. In the present work, we constituted a comparative study on the production of HMF from two widely available real biomasses in India- Agave americana and Casuarina equisetifolia. In the initial hydrolysis studies for the production of reducing sugars, 649.5 mg/g of fructose was obtained from the hydrolysis of 5% (w/v) A. americana biomass by the enzyme inulinase in 3 h at 50°C. Similarly, upon hydrolysis of 15% (w/v) C. equisetifolia biomass by the lignocellulolytic enzymes (laccase, cellulase and xylanase) from Trichoderma atroviride, 456.65 mg/g of reducing sugars was released in 24 h at 30°C. Subsequently, the dehydration of the obtained reducing sugars to HMF was achieved with titanium dioxide as the catalyst. The dehydration of A. americana-derived fructose at 140°C led to a maximum HMF yield of 92.6% in 15 min with 10% catalyst load. Contrarily, upon optimizing the process parameters for dehydration of C. equisetifolia derived reducing sugars, the maximum HMF yield of 85.7% was obtained at 110°C in 25 min with a TiO₂ concentration of 10%. This study reports for the first time the utilization of C. equisetifolia biomass for HMF production and thus, by utilizing these inexpensive, abundantly available and highly functionalized polysaccharides, a strategical approach can be developed for the production of fine chemicals, eliminating the need of fossil-based chemicals.

Implications: The catalytic upgrading of lignocellulosic biomass into high-valued platform chemicals like 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) implies an extremely significant challenge to the attempts of establishing a green economy. Casuarina equisetifolia and Agave americana represents a sustainable feedstock for the production of HMF through catalytic integration. The present work describes a two-step reaction process where the initial depolymerization step comprises of an enzymatic hydrolysis followed by a chemical-catalyst mediated dehydration process. The utilization of a biocatalytic approach followed by mild chemical catalyst eliminates the need of hazardous chemical conversion processes. Thus, the HMF produced via sustainable can bridge the gap between carbohydrate chemistry and petroleum-based industrial chemistry because of the wide range of chemical intermediates and end-products that can be derived from this compound.

Acknowledgment

The authors express their sincere gratitude to SRM Institute of Science and Technology (SRM IST), Tamil Nadu, India for their help and for aiding in facilitating the research.

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Notes on contributors

Kongkona Saikia

Kongkona Saikia is a Ph.D. student at the Department of Biotechnology in SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, India.

Abiram Karanam Rathankumar

Abiram Karanam Rathankumar is a Ph.D. student at the Department of Biotechnology in SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, India.

Krishnakumar Ramachandran

Krishnakumar Ramachandran is a B.Tech student at the Department of Biotechnology in SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, India.

Harshini Sridharan

Harshini Sridharan is a B.Tech student at the Department of Biotechnology in SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, India.

Pranay Bohra

Pranay Bohra is a B.Tech student at the Department of Biotechnology in SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, India.

Nikhil Bharadwaj

Nikhil Bharadwaj is a B.Tech student at the Department of Biotechnology in SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, India.

Anisha Vyas

Anisha Vyas is a B.Tech student at the Department of Biotechnology in SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, India.

Vaidyanathan Vinoth Kumar

Vaidyanathan Vinoth Kumar is an Associate Professor at the Department of Biotechnology in SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, India.