Synthesis of γ-valerolactone by hydrogenation of levulinic acid over supported nickel catalysts

•Ni particles supported on alumina for the hydrogenation of levulinic acid (LA).•High conversion to γ-valerolactone under solvent free conditions.•Side reactions of LA with alcohols lower at higher reaction pressure.•High yields and 100% selectivity in aqueous medium. Ni/Al2O3 catalysts were tested...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied catalysis. A, General General, 2015-08, Vol.502, p.18-26
Main Authors: Hengst, Konstantin, Schubert, Martin, Carvalho, Hudson W.P., Lu, Changbo, Kleist, Wolfgang, Grunwaldt, Jan-Dierk
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Hydrogenation
Levulinic acid
Ni/Al2O3
Solvent effect
γ-Valerolactone
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Summary:•Ni particles supported on alumina for the hydrogenation of levulinic acid (LA).•High conversion to γ-valerolactone under solvent free conditions.•Side reactions of LA with alcohols lower at higher reaction pressure.•High yields and 100% selectivity in aqueous medium. Ni/Al2O3 catalysts were tested for the hydrogenation of levulinic acid (LA) to γ-valerolactone (GVL) as an important bio-based platform molecule for chemical products based on renewable feedstocks. The catalysts were prepared by wet impregnation, incipient wetness impregnation, precipitation, and flame spray pyrolysis; both the influence of different solvents (monovalent alcohols and water) as well as solvent free reaction conditions were screened in batch autoclaves. Whereas alcohols led to a number of side reactions that could only be suppressed by high hydrogen pressures (>20bar), water as solvent resulted in a GVL selectivity of 100%. The GVL yields reached 57%. Further improvement was achieved without any solvent, whereby the GVL yield increased to 92% at 100% LA conversion. Reuse of the Ni catalysts resulted in a significant drop in activity. The catalysts were thoroughly characterized by temperature programmed reduction (TPR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), linear combination analysis of X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) spectra and extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS). The results indicated that incorporated Ni2+, as present in flame-derived catalysts, was less active for GVL synthesis compared to supported Ni particles, as present in the wet impregnated catalyst.
ISSN:0926-860X
1873-3875
DOI:10.1016/j.apcata.2015.05.007