Furfural is one of the most promising chemical platforms with bright perspective with respect to the production of bio-based chemicals and fuels from lignocellulosic material. Globally, the majority of the biomass-derived chemicals are converted into furfuryl alcohol, a building block in polymers industry. The vapor-phase hydrogenation of Furfural over copper species dispersed on two types of silica (bulk-type and nano-sized) supports with or without chromium as a promoter was studied for the first time. The catalysts were synthesized via impregnation method and operated under mild hydrogenation reaction conditions. The results represented that the catalytic performance of the nano-sized silica-supported catalyst was better in terms of Furfural conversion, furfuryl alcohol yield and selectivity than that of the bulk-type silica after a 4-hour operation. However, by incorporation of chromium as a promoter, the bulk-type silica-supported catalyst exhibited an improved performance during the whole run length (higher than 82 % and 96 % of Furfural conversion and furfuryl alcohol selectivity, respectively).

Background and Objectives: Furfural (F) and hydroxymethyl Furfural (HMF) are cyclic aldehydes, which are formed during the heat processing of foods. These chemical contaminants have received much attention due to their suspected health hazards and heat damage indicators. The aim of the present study was extraction and determination of F and HMF in baby-foods using dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (DLLME) coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Materials and Methods: Several effective parameters including the type and volume of extracting and disperser solvents, pH and salt amount were studied and optimized to find the best way of detecting and analyzing F and HMF. The optimized method was applied to determine F and HMF in 33 samples of babyfoods (powdered, soups, fruit puree and juices). Results: According to the results of this study, the optimal experimental conditions were: 4. 5 for pH, 60 μ L for 1-octanol, 600 μ L for ethanol and 2 g of salt (NaCl). The limit of detection (LOD) was 1. 3 μ g kg-1 for F and 2. 1 μ g kg-1 for HMF. F and HMF were found in all samples at levels ranging from 110 to 27510 μ g kg-1 and from 200 to 25750 μ g kg-1, respectively. Conclusions: The proposed method can be considered as an effective, fast and reliable method for investigating F and HMF in baby-foods.

Furfural with a chemical formula of C5H4O2 is a toxic compound which has several health problems for both humans and environment. It has a few exposure routes for entering the human body such as oral, dermal or nasal. In the present study, the efficacies of an integrated catalytic ozonation process (COP) and novel cyclic biological reactor (CBR) were explored for the removal of Furfural from aqueous solutions. Activated carbon was purchased from Merck Company. It had a Brunauer, Emmett, and Teller (BET) specific surface area of 1100 m2/g, with an average micropore volume and size of 0.385 cm3/g and 595 mm, respectively. The results indicated that 30% pretreatment with COP could increase Furfural and chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency with CBR 5.56% and 27.01%, respectively. With 70% pretreatment by COP, 98.57% Furfural and 95.34% COD removal efficiencies happen in CBR. Generally, batch and continuous experiments showed that the integrated COP/CBR could be efficient in eliminating Furfural from wastewater and thus may be a promising technique for treating Furfural-containing wastewater.