Research description

The use of bio renewable feedstocks seems to be promising to overcome the dependence on fossil-fuel resources for energy and chemical building blocks. The studies about the production of HMF (5-hydroxymethylfurfural) as biofuel and chemicals have increased greatly. Recently, researchers have investigated the efficient processes to produce high yield of HMF using monophasic system, biphasic system, and also ionic liquid solutions. Many researchers have examined various solvents, searched new catalysts, utilized more abundantly available bio material, and studied the mechanism and kinetics of the dehydration process of HMF production. However, few studies have been investigated the HMF production process on the thermodynamics insights. It is still needed the thermodynamic data in various solvents tested.
This study focuses on the study of liquid-liquid equilibria (LLE) of HMF in aqueous-organic biphasic systems, various ionic liquid solutions, and deep eutectic solvents. The phase equilibrium data are needed for the rational design and optimal separation operation of HMF from the extraction solvent. Moreover, the reliable thermodynamic models are also needed to enhance the operational efficiency of the separation process and to reduce the production costs. Therefore, the NRTL and UNIQUAC model are used in this study to correlate the experimental phase equilibrium data. In addition, the COSMO-RS model will also be used for the predictions.

Supervisors

• Prof. dr. ir. André de Haan

Personal education

• MSc: Double Degree in Chemical Engineering Department Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember ITS - Indonesia and National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (2010-2012)
• BSc: Chemical Engineering Department, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember ITS - Indonesia (2006-2010)