Preparation of D-Arabinose in a Laboratory Fluidized Bed Electrode Cell

Results of experimental work emloying an electrochemical reactor with the fluidized bed electrode to prepare D-arabinose by direct degradative oxidation of sodium D-gluconate without chemical oxidizing agents are presented. The observed yield of D-arabinose exceeded 70% by mass related to the theoretically obtainable amount with the selectivity ranging between 96 and 98.1%. The undesirable product was mainly D-erythrose produced by consecutive reaction from D-arabinose. Typical specific electric power consumption ranged between 7.5 and 14 kWh per kg of D-arabinose.