FURANS ARE VERSATILE PLATFORM MOLECULES THAT CAN BE CONVERTED TO DROP-IN FUELS AS WELL AS A WIDE ARRAY OF CHEMICAL PRODUCTS. THE BIOMASS DERIVED FURANS - HYDROXYMETHYL FURFURAL (HMF) AND FURFURAL - MADE FROM DEHYDRATION OF GLUCOSE AND XYLOSE ARE RANKED SECOND AMONG THE TOP-TEN MOST PROMISING BUILDING BLOCK CHEMICALS IN DOE'S RECENTLY REVISED LIST. HMF AND FURFURAL CAN SERVE AS PRECURSORS FOR A NUMBER OF INDUSTRIALLY-IMPORTANT SYNTHETICIC MATERIALS, SOLVENTS, RESINS AND PHARMACEUTICAL MOLECULES. NOTEWORTHY AMONG THESE ARE THE MONOMER MOLECULES DIFORMYL-FURAN AND FURANDICARBOXYLIC ACID (FDCA) OBTAINED FROM CATALYTIC OXIDATION OF HMF. FDCA WAS SHOWN BY AVANTIUM CHEMICALS TO BE A SUPERIOR REPLACEMENT FOR TEREPHTHALIC ACID - THE PETROCHEMICAL PRECURSOR FOR POLY-ETHYLENE TEREPHTHALATE (PET) PLASTIC, WITH MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR MARKET CAPITALIZATION WORLDWIDE. FURANS CAN ALSO BE CONVERTED TO HYDROCARBON MOLECULES COMPATIBLE WITH JET FUEL, DIESEL AND GASOLINE. IN SPITE OF THIS HUGE POTENTIAL, THE PROMISE OF FURAN-DERIVED PRODUCTS REMAINS UNFULFILLED TO DATE DUE TO THE INABILITY TO PRODUCE FURANS ECONOMICALLY FROM BIOMASS FEEDSTOCKSTHIS PROJECT WILL DEVELOP BIO-BASED FURFURAL AND HMF THAT CAN BE FURTHER UPGRADED TO BIOPOLYMERS, BIOSOLVENTS, FUEL ADDITIVES AND FUELS. ALTHOUGH SUGARS DERIVED FROM BIOMASS CARBOHYDRATES ARE ALDOSES (I.E., GLUCOSE AND XYLOSE), THE BEST FURAN YIELDS CAN BE OBTAINED VIA DEHYDRATION OF THE CORRESPONDING KETO-ISOMERS (I.E., FRUCTOSE AND XYLULOSE) IN NON-AQUEOUS MEDIA. THE CHALLENGE THEN IS TO DEVISE A PATHWAY TO EFFICIENTLY TRANSFER SUGARS FROM BIOMASS HYDROLYSATE INTO THE NON-AQUEOUS MEDIA; PRODUCE THE FURAN IN HIGH YIELD; AND ISOLATE IT FOR DOWNSTREAM PROCESSING, ALL WITH LOW ENERGY INPUT AND RECYCLING OF PROCESS STREAMS. THIS RESEARCH PROJECT ADDRESSES THESE CHALLENGES: WE PROPOSE A PROCESS IN WHICH (1) THE CONVERSION OF HYDROLYZATE SUGARS TO KETOSES AND THEIR NEAR-COMPLETE RECOVERY IS ACCOMPLISHED THROUGH A NOVEL SIMULTANEOUS-ISOMERIZATION-AND-REACTIVE-EXTRACTION (SIRE) PROCESS, AND (2) THE RECOVERED KETOSES ARE DEHYDRATED TO FURANS IN AN ACIDIC IONIC LIQUID (IL) REACTION MEDIUM AND SIMULTANEOUSLY EXTRACTED INTO A LOW-BOILING IMMISCIBLE SOLVENT TO PREVENT SIDE REACTIONS, INCREASE PROCESS YIELDS AND FACILITATE EASY PRODUCT RECOVERY. REACTIONS OF KETOSES TO FURANS IN IL-MEDIA RESULT IN SUPERIOR YIELDS AND ALSO OCCUR AT MILD OPERATING CONDITIONS (IL RXN T ~ 50 &DEG;C; AQUEOUS RXN T &GT;200 &DEG;C). FINALLY, A KEY FEATURE OF THIS TECHNOLOGY IS IT PERMITS RECYCLING AND REUSE OF THE CATALYSTS, SOLVENTS AND REACTION MEDIA.