Construction of Functional Phenolic Resin and Carbon Hollow Spheres by Manipulating Structural Inhomogeneity.

Hollow carbonaceous spheres are extraordinarily attractive for their unique structural features and wide applications in various fields. Herein, a facile and effective synthesis methodology based on the extended Stöber process for construction of phenolic resin hollow spheres has been presented. Combined with a series of characterization techniques, the synthesis process was systematically investigated, and a possible synthesis mechanism was proposed.

Optimization of furfural production from D-xylose with formic acid as catalyst in a reactive extraction system.

Furfural is one of the most promising platform chemicals derived from biomass. In this study, response surface methodology (RSM) was utilized to determine four important parameters including reaction temperature (170-210°C), formic acid concentration (5-25 g/L), o-nitrotoluene volume percentage (20-80 vt.%), and residence time (40-200 min).

The optimization of formic acid hydrolysis of xylose in furfural production.

Formic acid, a byproduct of furfural process, can be an effective catalyst for dehydration of xylose into furfural. Due to the low corrosion resistance, easy to be separated and reused, there is a growing interest in the use of formic acid as catalyst. In this study, response surface methodology (RSM) was used to optimize the hydrolysis process in order to obtain high furfural yield and selectivity.