Overview

Furfuryl alcohol is a furan bearing a hydroxymethyl substituent at the 2-position. It has a role as a Maillard reaction product. It is a primary alcohol and a member of furans. Furfuryl alcohol appears as a clear colorless liquid. Flash point 167 °F. Boiling point 171 °F. Denser than water. Contact may irritate skin, eyes and mucous membranes. May be toxic by ingestion and skin contact and moderately toxic by inhalation.

Furfuryl Alcohol is a colorless or yellow liquid that turns red or brown in air. It has a mild Alcohol or Ether-like odor and is used as a flavoring and in making sealants and cements. As a natural raw material to a range of furfural-based chemicals and solvents, furfural and its derivatives have been extensively used in a range of industries. The direct conversion into furfuryl alcohol, methylfuran and furan via metal-catalyzed hydrogenation, reduction and decarbonylation positions furfural as a strategic and ultimate industrial source for the production of a wide range of derivatives.

Applications

Furfural has an aromatic odour reminiscent of almonds. This biomass-based chemical is a hetero-aromatic aldehyde with exceptional physical properties. Applications include:

• selective solvent in refining lubricating oils to produce high-quality motor oil with improved temperature-viscosity properties
• decolourizing agent to refine crude wood rosin
• purification of C4 and C5 hydrocarbons for manufacturing synthetic rubber
• reactive solvent and excellent wetting agent in manufacturing abrasive wheels, brake linings and refractory products for the steel industry
• chemical feedstock for furfuryl alcohol and other derivatives

Resins, composites
The primary use of furfuryl alcohol is as a monomer for the synthesis of furan resins. These polymers are used in thermoset polymer matrix composites, cements, adhesives, coatings and casting/foundry resins. Polymerization involves an acid-catalyzed polycondensation, usually giving a black cross-linked product. A highly simplified representation is shown below.

Because of its low molecular weight, furfuryl alcohol can impregnate the cells of wood, where it can be polymerized and bonded with the wood by heat, radiation, and/or catalysts or additional reactants. The treated wood (e.g. "Kebony") has improved moisture-dimensional stability, hardness, and decay and insect resistance; catalysts can include zinc chloride, citric, and formic acid, as well as borates.

Use as rocket propellant (fuel component)

Furfuryl alcohol has been used in rocketry as a fuel which ignites hypergolically (immediately and energetically in contact) with white fuming nitric acid or red fuming nitric acid oxidizer.[12] The use of hypergolics avoids the need for an igniter. In late 2012, Spectra, a concept liquid rocket engine using white fuming nitric acid as the oxidizer to furfuryl alcohol fuel was static tested by Copenhagen Suborbitals.

Production