Solar and Visible-Light Photooxygenations of Furfural – An Example for the Manufacturing of Commodity Chemicals from Renewable Materials

Abstract

This study investigated the photooxygenation of furfural as a bagasse-derived material to the important platform chemical hydroxy furanone. The reaction was successfully transferred from small laboratory-scales with artificial light to large solar demonstration scales in direct, natural sunlight. Due to the challenging isolation of pure hydroxy furanone due to thermal follow-up reactions, pseudo-esterifications and -transesterifications to the corresponding alkoxy-derivatives were furthermore investigated. The results from this investigation offer new opportunities for sugarcane bagasse waste utilization and product diversification of renewable biomass materials.