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Sustainable Chemicals: A Brief Survey of the Furans

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A Correction to this article was published on 19 March 2020

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Abstract

Whether it is in the textiles, paints and coatings, energy sector, polymers, plastics, woods, sugar chemistry, pharmacy, aerospace and the automotive industries, the multiplicity of applications of furans and their derivatives, have made steady, impressive, and progressive impacts over the last 9 decades. After World War II, due to the shift in focus towards the petroleum-based chemical feedstocks, research, and development studies of these impressive class of lignocellulosic-derived chemicals, slowed down markedly. The trend, however, has reversed remarkably in recent time, due to the pursuit for “green” and sustainable chemical feedstocks, coupled with the increasing concerns over climate change, volatile oil prices and the attendant undesirable environmental issues, associated with fossil hydrocarbons. Chemicals obtained from “green” inedible lignocellulosic biomass, such as: the furans and their derivatives, ranks amongst the most promising, sustainable, and industrially applicable alternatives to various petroleum-derived chemicals; further offering an enormous assortment of unique compounds/materials, and properties analogous to and even exceeding those derived from fossil hydrocarbons. This article reviews selected progresses, so far made, in the field of furans and its derivatives and their application portfolios; while recognising the immense contributions of Peters and Dunlop, who in no small measures, advanced the furan chemical industry during their research efforts at the Oat Hull Research Centre at the Quaker Oats Company, Cedar Rapids, USA.

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  • 19 March 2020

    In the original version of this article the first name of the third author was incorrect.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Institute for Nano-Engineering Research (INER), Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria, South Africa

    Austine O. Iroegbu & Emmanuel R. Sadiku

  2. National Centre for Nanostructured Materials, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, CSIR, Pretoria, South Africa

    Suprakas S. Ray

  3. Department of Chemical Sciences, The University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Suprakas S. Ray

  4. Department of Electrical Engineering, Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria, South Africa

    Yskandar Hamam

  5. ESIEE Paris, Noisy le Grand, France

    Yskandar Hamam

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The original version of this article was revised: The first name of the third author was incorrect.

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Iroegbu, A.O., Sadiku, E.R., Ray, S.S. et al. Sustainable Chemicals: A Brief Survey of the Furans. Chemistry Africa 3, 481–496 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42250-020-00123-w

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