Efficient synthesis of glucose into 5-hydroxymethylfurfural with SO42−/ZrO2 modified H+ zeolites in different solvent systems

Production of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) from glucose with high yield remains a big challenge. Thereinto, assembling catalysts with outstanding performance is the bottleneck at the current stage. In this study, effective catalysts were synthesized by loading SO42−/ZrO2 (SZ) on a series of H+ zeolites to investigate the catalytic dehydration of glucose into HMF. Among all the catalysts applied, 2-SZ-HM-550 (HZSM-5 with Si/Al molar ratios of 80∼150, calcined at 550 °C) gave the yields of HMF 41.32%, 61.14%, 54.67% and 40.71% in 4 applied reaction systems, respectively. Moreover, HMF with desirable yield was obtained while other carbohydrates were dehydrated catalyzed by 2-SZ-HM-550, such as fructose, sucrose, inulin and starch.