“Furfural thanks several large scale applications to its solubility characteristics and its easy recuperation by steam distillation. Furfural has the unique property to dissolve aromatics and other unsaturated olefins. Today all major oil companies use furfural as selective solvent in the refining of lubricating oils. This technology lead to production of high quality motor oil with improved temperature-viscosity properties. Aromatics, polar components, mercaptans are removed from petroleum by means of furfural extraction. Furfural can also be used as decolorizing agent to refine crude wood rosin.
During the Second World War the purification technology of butadiene was developed in the United States for the manufacture of synthetic rubber. By extractive distillation with furfural butadiene or isoprene can be separated from other C4 and C5 hydrocarbons, respectively.
Furfural is unusually effective as a solvent for phenolic resins. In the manufacture of abrasive wheels, brake linings and refractory products for the steel industry furfural is known as a reactive solvent and excellent wetting agent.
However, the main outlet of furfural is as chemical feedstock for the production of furfuryl alcohol and for other 5-membered oxygen-containing heterocycles, i.e. furan, methylfuran, acetylfuran, furfurylamine and furoic acid. “