Furfural formation from xylose is a typical successive reaction in which the furfural produced in a reactor disappears by side reactions such as polymerization and decomposition. In this work we investigated the effect of the extraction of furfural by supercritical CO₂ on the selectivity and yield of the furfural. Furthermore, based on kinetic data we proposed a reaction model for farfural formation with or without supercritical CO₂ extraction.
Judging from the experimental results, the recovery of furfaral from the reaction mixture by supercritical CO₂ extraction greatly improved the selectivity and yield of the furfural owing to the suppression of its side reactions. A simple reaction model could represent satisfactorily the change in furfural selectivity and yield with the xylose conversion for the reaction without supereritical CO₂ extraction, while the model could explain fairly well the reaction accompanying supercritical CO₂ extraction.