Dynamic Reactor Modelling and Operability Analysis of Xylose Dehydration to Furfural Using an Extractive-reaction Process in an Agitated Cell Reactor

Abstract

Valorisation hemicellulose into furans chemicals is of great interest to create sustainable furan alternatives to fossil-derived products. A route of particular interest is acid-catalysed dehydration of the hemicellulose pentoses in aqueous medium, with simultaneous extraction of furfural using organic solvent. Agitated Cell Reactor (ACR) could be effectively used to intensify this process and decouple mixing from the long reaction time. This study presents a mathematical model for dehydration of C5 sugars to produce furfural in an ACR. The model can be used to study the effect of feed concentration to the product properties, the concentration profiles along the reactor length, and the dynamic behaviour of the system under feed disturbances or flow rate adjustments. The model was successfully fitted to the experimental data of a laboratory scale ACR for the target product. A simulation study was conducted to analyse the controllability of the process. Operability analysis with the nominal input space and the design space was used for mapping the most feasible region for the process design to meet the flexibility or controllability already at the design phase of the reactor system.