Study on the production of levulinic acid from rice straw

Levulinic acid is prepared by the acid hydrolysis of the rice straw though two-step re-action.The effects of technological conditions such as reaction time,temperatures,ratio of solid to liquid and sulfuric acid concentration on the yield of reducing sugar and levulinic acid are investi-gated respectively.The result shows that,in the reaction of acid hydrolysis,the best yield of reduc-ing sugar is 28.45%,under the optimal conditions: reaction time of 35 min,temperature of 220 ℃,ratio of solid to liquid of 1∶15,sulfuric acid concentration of 6%;in the reaction of transforming,the best yield of levulinic acid is 34.14% under the optimal conditions: reaction time of 40 min,temper-ature of 250 ℃,the structure was later confirmed by IR.