Furfural Synthesis from Mile-a-Minute Weed (Mikania micrantha) using Roselle Petal Extract as Catalyst

: Mile-a-minute weed (Mikania micrantha) contains a large fraction of pentosan, and thus, is suitable as a precursor of furfural. Generally, furfural production from biomass requires inorganic acids, such as sulfuric acid and hydrochloric acid, as catalyst. However, the use of inorganic acid is not environmentally benign and causes equipment corrosion. In this study, 50 g dry mile-a-minute weed was reduced to 100 meshes and mixed with 50 g sodium chloride. Then, this mixture was added into roselle petal extract at a ratio of 1:6 (w/v) in a three-neck flask. The flask was then connected to a Liebig condenser and an erlenmeyer was placed at the other end of the condenser to collect the furfural. The reaction was carried out at 100-120℃ and for 0-330 min. The resulting furfural was separated from water by extraction using chloroform. Two layers of liquid were formed during extraction. The top layer was rich in water and the bottom layer was rich in chloroform and furfural. The lower layer was distilled to purify furfural. The purified furfural was identified by aniline acetate color test, Fourier-Tranform Infrared Spectrocopy (FTIR) and Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry (GCMS). The results suggested that organic acids from roselle petal extraction can be used as a catalyst in furfural systhesis.