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Continuous-flow catalytic synthesis of flavor esters based on the carbonized-wood monolithic microreactor
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Yujian SU1, 2, Yi ZHANG2, *, Tieliang LIU2, Yunqi GAO2, Mingming ZHENG2, 3, 4
Transactions of the Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering | 2026, 42(12) : 376 - 383
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Transactions of the Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering | 2026, 42(12): 376-383
Agricultural Produce Processing Engineering
Continuous-flow catalytic synthesis of flavor esters based on the carbonized-wood monolithic microreactor
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Yujian SU1, 2, Yi ZHANG2, *, Tieliang LIU2, Yunqi GAO2, Mingming ZHENG2, 3, 4
Affiliations
  • 1College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hubei University, Wuhan 430062, China
  • 2Oil Crops Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hubei Key Laboratory of Lipid Chemistry and Nutrition, Key Laboratory of Oilseeds Processing, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Wuhan 430062, China
  • 3College of Life Science and Technology, Hubei Engineering Universuty,Xiaogan 432000, China
  • 4PKU-HKUST Shenzhen-HongKong Institution, Shenzhen 518057, China
Published: 2026-06-30 doi: 10.11975/j.issn.1002-6819.202510111
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Due to the poor mass transfer, long reaction time, and severe material back mixing in conventional stirring reactions, the microfluidic reaction system, with the advantages of enhanced mass transfer, fast reaction speed, and mitigated substrate inhibition, has received attention. Natural wood is a cheap, renewable, and earth-abundant material, which is regarded as the ideal model for monolithic reactors due to the existing 3D hierarchical structures. Carbonized wood with superior electrical conductivity, chemical and mechanical stability, and tunable multifunctionality endows it as a monolithic reactor object to synthesize advanced materials for multiple purposes. This study constructed a carbonized monolithic microreactor for the continuous-flow catalytic synthesis of ethyl cinnamate, using the basswood column with a natural three-dimensional microchannel structure, which was carbonized in a nitrogen atmosphere at 700 ℃. The peristaltic pump tube is used to connect the metal coil and the carbonized monolithic microreactor in turn. The peristaltic pump sends the reaction liquid to the metal coil, and the oil bath pan heats the metal coil to preheat the reaction liquid. Subsequently, the reaction liquid enters the carbonized monolithic microreactor, and the oil bath circulation device heats the reactor to ensure the reaction temperature. The results indicate that the length and diameter of carbonized-wood columns were reduced from 200 and 40 mm to 165 and 29.6 mm, respectively, due to the pyrolysis of lignin, hemicellulose, and cellulose at elevated temperature. The resulting material not only preserves the well-aligned microchannel topology of the original wood, but also exhibits significantly enhanced properties, including high chemical stability, robust mechanical strength, and exceptional mass and heat transfer performance—laying a solid foundation for efficient continuous-flow catalytic processes. SEM characterization demonstrated the regular and hierarchical porous structures of carbonized column with abundant tubular channels (5-50 µm in diameter) in the wood growth direction and micro-sized pores (0.5-1 µm) inside tubular channels. The micro-sized pores on the tubular channels allowed the liquid substrates to enter the adjacent channels and generate fluid disturbance for improved mass transfer and enhanced catalytic capacity. Then, 96.5% of cinnamic acid conversion was reached with the molar ratio of cinnamic acid to ethanol at 1:20, the catalyst addition of concentrated H2SO4 (98 wt%) being 30 % of the mass of cinnamic acid, the reaction temperature of 100 ℃, substrate flow rate of 5 mL/min and the outlet pressure at 0.2 MPa. Under the continuous-flow reaction mode, a carbonized-wood monolithic microreactor induced a maximum TOF of 42.4 h−1 for the catalyst of sulfuric acid, which was 11.7-22.3 times higher than that in batch-mode reaction. This carbonized monolithic microreactor exhibited excellent mechanical strength (4 538 N in load, 31.2 MPa in compressive strength, 3839 MPa in elastic modulus) and acid-base tolerance, which could maintain over 90% of cinnamic acid conversion after 10 consecutive runs. The microchannel reactor was subjected to immersion tests in both acidic and alkaline solutions of varying concentrations for 24 hours. After drying, its structural morphology remained fully intact, demonstrating exceptional resistance to corrosive chemical environments. These properties ensure long-term chemical stability under continuous operation, structural integrity against collapse or deformation caused by reactive fluid flow under process conditions. Besides, it can also be used for the efficient preparation of various flavor esters, such as ethyl acetate (93.5%), hexyl hexanoate (95.7%), iso-amyl p-methoxycinnamate (87.6%), ethyl hexanoate (78.9%), ethyl butyrate (92.0%), and cinnamic acid methylester (92.4%). Hence, the research developed a carbonized-wood monolithic microreactor with basswood as raw material, which was filled into a metal casing after elevated temperature carbonization. The reactor exhibited high mass and heat transfer efficiency, presented good mechanical properties, and acid and alkali resistance. The finding can provide a potential strategy for the efficient synthesis of flavor esters by combining continuous flow reaction and acid catalysis, in industrial applications in the field of food and cosmetics.

carbonized-wood column  /  microreactor  /  ethyl cinnamate  /  continuous-flow  /  catalytic synthesis
Yujian SU, Yi ZHANG, Tieliang LIU, Yunqi GAO, Mingming ZHENG. Continuous-flow catalytic synthesis of flavor esters based on the carbonized-wood monolithic microreactor[J]. Transactions of the Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering, 2026 , 42 (12) : 376 -383 . DOI: 10.11975/j.issn.1002-6819.202510111
Year 2026 volume 42 Issue 12
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doi: 10.11975/j.issn.1002-6819.202510111
  • Receive Date:2025-10-17
  • Online Date:2026-08-20
  • Published:2026-06-30
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History
  • Received:2025-10-17
  • Revised:2026-06-15
Affiliations
    1College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hubei University, Wuhan 430062, China
    2Oil Crops Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hubei Key Laboratory of Lipid Chemistry and Nutrition, Key Laboratory of Oilseeds Processing, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Wuhan 430062, China
    3College of Life Science and Technology, Hubei Engineering Universuty,Xiaogan 432000, China
    4PKU-HKUST Shenzhen-HongKong Institution, Shenzhen 518057, China
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表12种不同金属材料的力学参数

Family
属数
Number of
genus
种数
Number of
species
占总种数比例
Percentage of
total species (%)

Genus
种数
Number of
species
占总种数比例
Percentage of total
species (%)
鹅膏菌科Amanitaceae 2 11 5.26 鹅膏菌属 Amanita 10 4.78
小菇科 Mycenaceae 2 12 5.74 丝盖伞属 Inocybe 5 2.39
多孔菌科 Polyporaceae 8 14 6.70 蜡蘑属 Laccaria 5 2.39
红菇科 Russulaceae 3 23 11.00 小皮伞属 Marasmius 6 2.87
小菇属 Mycena 11 5.26
光柄菇属 Pluteus 5 2.39
红菇属 Russula 17 8.13
栓菌属 Trametes 5 2.39
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