(437g) Design and Characterization of a Microfixed-Bed for Reactive Separations of HMF

5-Hydroxymethyl-furfural (HMF) synthesized from biomass derived sugar molecules is an important platform molecule for the production of renewable fuels and chemicals. Acid-catalysed fructose dehydration into HMF has been extensively studied, but the overall HMF yield is limited by the subsequent degradation into side products such as levulinic and formic acids, and further hampered by slow, batch processing. Reactive adsorption of HMF in a single reactor shows potential in reducing the number of subsequent downstream separation steps without compromising the purity of valuable product. Selective HMF adsorption onto porous activated carbon materials has been previously demonstrated in batch systems, but few studies have established their use in a continuous fashion, and even less have combined catalysis with adsorption. In this work, we present a two-stage, continuous flow micro-fixed bed reactive adsorber using polymer derived spherical activated carbon (PBSAC) as the adsorbent for HMF. The adsorption performance of the column is first characterized using the major components of the fructose dehydration reaction as a function of temperature, and the adsorption kinetics is derived using adsorption models. Fructose dehydration reaction is then performed using homogeneous HCl catalyst (pH = 0.7) between 130 – 200 ^oC, where the breakthrough curves of the as-produced HMF product are used for optimizing the fixed-bed geometry and operating conditions. The recovery of HMF through desorption at high temperatures is demonstrated, and the reusability of the carbon adsorbent is discussed. Finally, conventional and microwave-based heating are compared. This design highlights the potential of modular design for future biorefineries.