Abstract:A process for the dehydration of fructose into 5hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) was developed in ionic liquid 1butyl3methyl imidazolium chloride ([C4mim]Cl) by using Beta zeolite as the catalyst. The effects of reaction temperature, reaction time, catalyst dosage and substrate dosage on the conversion of fructose and the yield of HMF were discussed, and the reaction kinetics was analyzed. Using 0.200 g fructose as the substrate, under the optimal conditions of catalyst dosage of 0.140 g, reaction temperature of 100 °C and reaction time of 4 h, the yield of HMF was 78.2%. The ionic liquid and catalyst could be recycled and exhibited constant activity within 5 cycles. The kinetics analysis indicates that the activation energy of the reaction was 53.9 kJ?mol-1.