Abstract

This work studied furfural production via acid hydrolysis using two different bagasse (waste product from the sugar industry) samples. Analysis of the bagasse samples indicated that they contained 33% hemicellulose. Acids used in furfural synthesis were hydrochloric acid, sulphuric acid and ethanoic acid with sodium chloride as a promoter. The physicochemical properties, UV scan and IR scan of the distillates confirmed that the product were furfural. The yields of furfural were typically low (4.53 – 4.98%) and was found to be largely independent of bagasse and acid types (with average value of 4.713% and standard deviation of 0.176). FTIR analysis of the distillate samples shows the presence of aldehyde functional group due to the strong peaks between the range of 1640 and 1710 cm–1. Furthermore, the ultra-violet scanning of the distillate samples shows that the presence of strong absorbance at the ultra-violet region of between 200 nm and 300 nm, which indicated the presence of aldehyde functional group.