HMF PRODUCTION USING AGRO-WASTE

Abstract

Annually, about 30% of the world’s vegetable and fruit harvest is discarded as waste. Instead of allowing this abundant resource to degrade back into the environment, this agro-waste could instead produce 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural, or HMF. HMF is known to be a valuable, but expensive, intermediate compound found in the pharmaceuticals industry, in the creation of biofuels and solvents, and in building polymers, to name a few. The use of agro-waste will not only utilize its potential to create such an important chemical, but also minimize its presence in the environment. The agro-waste is put through a five-step process: a subcritical water hydrolysis reactor, simulated moving bed chromatography, byproduct purification, glucose to fructose conversion, and finally, fructose to HMF conversion. Annually, the project utilizes about 169,000 metric tons of agro-waste and converts that into about 8,270 metric tons of HMF. HMF profit alone is around $380 million; however, when combined with byproduct sales, the plant yields a total yearly profit of about $1.05 billion. Although the plant creates such a high profit, further research is advised to minimize water and utility usage and to find several resources for agro-waste so as not to completely deplete one source immediately.