Abstract: Furfural was produced from xylose dehydration catalyzed by high temperature liquid water (HTLW) using toluene as extraction solvent. Important process parameters were optimized by Box-Behnken design using response surface methodology. Furfural yield was used as the response variable. It was demonstrated that initial concentration of xylose had the greatest influence on furfural yield, followed sequentially by toluene dosage, reaction time and temperature and that their optimal levels were determined respectively as 120 g/L, 25 mL, 6 h and 188 ℃ when 20 mL of xylose solution was used. The experimentally measured yield of furfural under these conditions was 68.72%, which basically coincided with the predicted value. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis confirmed the product as furfural.

Key words: xylose, high temperature liquid water, furfural, response surface methodology