A Combined CFD and Experimental Study on the Adsorption of HMF in Packed Bed Microreactors

The current fossil fuel-based economy faces many challenges and thus utilization of sustainable resources is of topical character.1 Biomass conversion technologies comprise essential alternatives that can lead to numerous application with immense industrial interest2. 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF) is a biomass derived molecule that serves as key-intermediate for the production of pharmaceuticals, biofuels, and bioplastics3. In this study an intensified process that requires the integration of mass transfer, adsorption and fluid dynamics modules in porous media is investigated. Experimental and computational efforts will be discussed in order to unveil the critical parameters that affect and control the design of micro-packed bed reactor for enhanced reactive adsorption of 5-HMF. We use a computational fluid dynamic (CFD) model to study the competitive adsorption of biomass molecules in a packed bed system by utilizing a fine tube 3D-axisymmetric geometry. In this work we will discuss critical parameters, such as operating conditions, dimensions, and its porous media zone, that our CFD model predicts to affect the adsorption behavior of 5-HMF, fructose, levulinic and formic acids. We extended our efforts to compare the performance of the model with available experimental breakthrough data where the initial flow rate, the inlet concentration and the adsorption species concentration on two different adsorbents, i.e. Polymer Based Spherical Activated Carbon (PBSAC) and BP2000, were varied. We find that 5-HMF adsorption on PBSAC has shorter breakthrough times than BP2000 while fructose elutes fast from the packed bed column with minimal adsorption as compared to that of 5-HMF.