US 11,787,773 B2
Process for the production of furfural
Jean-Paul Andre Marie Joseph Ghislain Lange, Amsterdam (NL); and Juben Nemchand Chheda, Houston, TX (US)
Assigned to SHELL USA, INC., Houston, TX (US)
Appl. No. 17/605,778
Filed by SHELL OIL COMPANY, Houston, TX (US)
PCT Filed May 19, 2020, PCT No. PCT/EP2020/063976
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Oct. 22, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/234303, PCT Pub. Date Nov. 26, 2020.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/851,153, filed on May 22, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0227725 A1, Jul. 21, 2022
Int. Cl. C07D 307/48 (2006.01)
CPC C07D 307/48 (2013.01) 10 Claims
 
1. A process for the production of furfural from a biphasic composition (2) comprising furfural, an organic solvent and soluble organic debris, said process comprising:
(a) subjecting the biphasic composition to a liquid-liquid separation step (3) to provide:
an organic phase (5) comprising the organic solvent, a first portion of the furfural and a first portion of soluble organic debris; and
an aqueous phase (4) comprising a remainder portion of the furfural and a remainder portion of soluble organic debris;
(b) subjecting the organic phase (5) to a distillation step (7) to provide:
a furfural stream (8), and
an organic solvent stream (9) comprising the organic solvent and the first portion of the soluble organic debris;
(c) conveying the organic solvent stream (9) comprising the organic solvent to an adsorption unit (10) to adsorb a second portion of the soluble organic debris, and to form an organic debris-depleted recycle stream (11).