The synthesis of biofuels and biopolymers from cellulosic feedstocks has been a focus of many renewable energy research groups primarily due to the desire to use inedible sources of biomass for the production of liquid biofuels. Here we describe the continuous production of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) from sources of both simple and complex sugars such as fructose, glucose, starch and cellulose using a fixed bed porous metal oxide-based catalytic process. Specifically, a two liquid phase continuous method was developed using a fixed bed catalytic reactor that resulted in the production of HMF with yields up to 29%. The organic extracting solvent used in the system was found to have a significant effect on the efficiency of HMF production. An approach to the continuous depolymerization of cellulose and subsequent conversion to HMF is described using a single catalytic reactor resulting in high consumption of the cellulose (87%) and good HMF yields (35%). The catalysts studied were spherical, porous zirconia and titania, which were both found to be stable over a variety of operating conditions and reusable through a simple pyrolytic regeneration process. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.