Separation and Purification of Furfuryl Alcohol Monomer and Oligomers Using a Two-Phase Extracting Process

Aqueous two-phase extraction processes were applied for the first time for the separation and purification of furfuryl alcohol monomer and oligomers. Deionized water was used as the liquid-liquid extraction solvent whereas magnesium sulfate acted as the salting-out reagent. Furfuryl alcohol preferentially partitioned to the water phase and could be further extracted from its aqueous solution due to the decreased solubility in salt rich phase. Various influences, such as partition coefficient and extractability, were studied during the liquid-liquid extraction. The extraction by using deionized water resulted in a high oligomer content around ∼94 wt % in the separated furfuryl alcohol oligomer solution whereas the salting-out furfuryl alcohol showed a purity of ∼92 wt %.