Implementation of furan-based building blocks in commodity chemical production: An opinion on scientific progress and economic viability

The introduction of new green commodity chemicals is strongly dependent on developing new biobased building blocks from biomass that could allow a versatile molecular design to achieve high-performing end products. Aromaticity is one of the key features of the decision to tune the chemical and physical properties of materials and chemicals. Today, these are mostly derived from petroleum as benzene, toluene, and xylene (BTX). Furan-based alternatives are a renewable alternative and represent a topic of growing scientific interest with many publications that indirectly address this problem. However, the large-scale implementation needs of furanic compounds requires further development of several aspects within the biorefinery concept such as the integration of biomass streams, energy balance, separation and purification costs, economic feasibility, and waste disposal. In this work, we scrutinise the current scientific approach to implementing furan-based building blocks in the plastics and surfactants industry and identify areas where future research should be directed to develop a competitive and efficient biorefinery approach.