Hydrolysis of sucrose in the presence of H-form zeolites

Hydrolysis of sucrose was performed in aqueous medium in the presence of various H-form dealuminated zeolites (H-BEA, H-MFI, H-MOR, H-Y-FAU). For all catalysts, hydrolysis takes place with a high selectivity whatever the conversion is. The important feature to be noted is the capacity for those catalysts to act as specific adsorbents of colored by-products formed during the course of the reaction, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) in particular. The amount of this by-product can be reduced to less than 100 ppm, thus offering an alternative route for the production of colorless invert sugars. In this way, H-Y FAU (Si/Al = 15) was found to have the better balance between activity, selectivity and by-product amount. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.