Preparation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural from glucose catalyzed by silica-supported phosphotungstic acid heterogeneous catalyst

[Display omitted] •SiO2-ATS-PTA is a robust catalyst for HMF production from glucose.•Furfural was the main byproduct.•The reaction path was suggested. Conversion of carbohydrates into 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) is a valuable reaction for biomass efficient utilization. The silica-supported phosphotungstic acid (PTA) heterogeneous catalyst (SiO2-ATS-PTA) was prepared and characterized by XRD, FT-IR, pyridine-FTIR and SEM. The SiO2-ATS-PTA was used to catalyze the conversion of glucose, and it afforded 78.31% yield of HMF at 160 °C for 140 min. The SiO2-ATS-PTA could be reused for five runs without significant loss of catalytic activity. Furfural was the main byproduct. A kinetic analysis was carried out and the values of the activation energy and the pre-exponential factor for the reaction were 30.25 kJ mol−1 and 1.08 × 107 min−1, respectively.