The main natural source of pentosans is lignocellulose that exists in biomass. Pentosans are hydrolyzed to pentoses in dilute mineral acid hydrolysis. Product of pentoses dehydrolysis is furfural. It can also be produced from different fruit shells as agricultural residues. The pistachio green hulls (PGH) from Pistachio vera as agricultural residues are abundant and low-cost lignocellollosic material and they have good potential for furfural production. In this study, the factors affecting on acid-hydrolysis of PGH such as reaction temperature (from 425 to 545 K), sulfuric acid concentration (from 0.5 to 4.0 mol/l) and reaction times (from 30 to 600 s) have been investigated. The reaction yields have been obtained on the basis of lignocellulose, pentoses and furfural.

Background and Objectives: Heat treatment during a baby formula production causes to production of F and HMF. The toxicity of these compounds in trace amount has been demonstrated. The purpose of this study is the identification and optimization of dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction followed by high-performance liquid chromatography as a sensitive and accurate method for the determining the trace amounts of F and HMF in baby formula samples.Materials and Methods: The effective parameters on the extraction of F and HMF were determined and optimized using response surface methodology. Central composite design was used for optimization. The figures of merit of the proposed method such as limit of detection, limit of quantification, repeatability, and linear rang were calculated. Extraction and determination of F and HMF in 22 samples taken from the drugstores in Tehran were carried out by the proposed method. Statistical method used in this study was a one-way ANOVA.Results: The optimum amounts for effective parameters were determined. The figures of merit for the proposed method were at the ideal range. In the present study, the lowest and highest concentrations of F and HMF in baby formula samples were 0.18 and 20.77mg g-1 and 0.24 and 167.16 mg g-1, respectively.Conclusion: The proposed method (DLLME) was compared with other previous methods, and its high capability and reliability were demonstrated in determination of furfural and hydroxylmethyl furfural at very low concentrations in baby formula samples.

The purpose of this study is the utilization of furfural residue for heating energy and activated carbon production. To evaluate the energy production of the residue, bulk density, melting point, and heating value were measured. Furthermore, moisture, ash, volatile compounds, fixed carbon, lignin, and elements were determined. Ash and volatile content average were measured at 15.4% and 68.9%, respectively. The bulk density average of the residue powder with 40-60 mesh was determined at 0.30 g/cm3. There are significant difference between lignin content and melting point of furfural residue with wood which were measured at 8.55% and 950oc, respectively. Also, it was found major difference between the average sulfur content of the waste and other biomass that is important in terms of environmental pollution. Gross heating value directly was measured by calorimetric bomb to 18.2 MJ/kg that is nearly to wood. The activated carbon produced from pyrolysis of furfural residue was chemically activated with zinc chloride. The chemically activated carbons were characterized by measuring iodine of 547 mg/g, specific surface (BET) of 501 m2/g, and pore diameter of 5.41 nanometer. It seems that the obtained activated carbon is suitable for liquid absorption according to the pore size. According to the results obtained in this study, thermal energy production from furfural residue is not recommended due to environmental pollution, but it is suitable for activated carbon production that could be used in the water purification industry.

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.

There are adequate sources for wood adhesives, but scarcity of oil resources can affect the cost and future availability of oil based resins. For avoiding of this process, seeking for feasibility of replacement of these oil feed stocks is necessary. In present work, thermal behavior of urea formaldehyde resin modified by furfural was investigated. The thermo-gravimetry was used for this purpose, and FTIR spectroscopy also was used to determine the functional groups in adhesives. In this study, three types of resins including industrial urea formaldehyde, and urea formaldehyde furfural in 25% and 50% of formaldehyde replacement by furfural were considered as variables. The formaldehyde emission from manufactured particle-board also was measured. Results of thermal studying of adhesives indicated that resin modification had improving influence on thermal properties of resin, especially in higher temperatures (around 220-380oC). Obtained FTIR spectrums also revealed the much similarity between groups and bonds of industrial resin and modified resins. Modification of resin by furfural reduced the formaldehyde emission of particleboard to E1 level.