Carbon-based solid acid derived from lignin and polyvinyl chloride for conversion of xylose and crop wastes to furfural

The carbon-based solid acid catalyst was prepared by carbonizing lignin and polyvinyl chloride at high temperature and then sulfonating with p-aminobenzenesulfonic acid. The catalyst was characterized by FI-IR, XPS, SEM, N2 adsorption-desorption, and acid-base titration to reveal the physical and chemical properties of the catalyst. In addition, the effects of reaction temperature, time, catalyst loading, and solvent type on transformation of xylose to furfural were also investigated. The yield of furfural can reach 84.3% from xylose in GVL solvent. In addition, five common crop wastes of corn cob, corn stalk, rice straw, rice husk, and wheat straw are employed as the substrates over the as-prepared solid acid to investigate the catalytic performance. Satisfied yield of furfural from corn cob and rice husk are achieved. The results show that the prepared solid acid has good catalytic performance for the reaction of furfural production from biomass.