Furfuryl alcohol also called 2-furylmethanol or 2-furancarbinol, is an organic compound containing a furan substituted with a hydroxymethyl group.It is made from furfural by means of catalysis with hydrogen added in. It is colorless to light yellow color, transparent liquid with bitter almond smell and becomes brown light yellow or deep red when exposed in the air. It can be mixed with water and many organic solvents such as alcohol, ether, acetone etc, but not dissolved in paraffin wax and other hydrocarbon products.
Furfuryl alcohol is manufactured industrially by the catalytic reduction of furfural which is obtained from corncobs and sugar cane bagasse. It finds use as a solvent, but is primarily used as an ingredient in the manufacture of various chemical products such as foundry resins, adhesives, and wetting agents.
Furfuryl alcohol has been used in rocketry as a fuel which ignites hypergolically (immediately and energetically in contact) with nitric acid oxidizer. This avoids needing separate igniters. It is one of the organic synthetic raw materials. It can be used to produce all kinds of furan resin, furfuryl alcohol resin and phenol resin and so on. It is also the good solution of vanish and dye. It can be widely used in sythetic febric, rubber, pesticide and foundry industry.
Industrial furfuryl alcohol is mainly used to manufacture furfuryl alcohol resin, which is used as binder of sand core of sand core of thermal core shooting box in precise foundry industry. Also furfuryl alcohol is used to manufacture tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol, anti-corrosion coating, etc. and used as solvents, thinner or other organic raw material.