Ultra-thin layer HTaMoO6 catalyst for the upgrading of carbohydrates into 5-hydroxymethylfurfural

• Published in: Chemical engineering journal (Lausanne, Switzerland : 1996) Switzerland : 1996), 2024-07, Vol.492, p.152140, Article 152140
• Main Authors: Zhang, Lei, Chen, Bingfeng, Zhou, Ti, Cheng, Xiaomeng, Dong, Minghua, Liu, Ye, Liu, Huizhen, Xu, Qingling, Han, Buxing
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 5-hydroxymethylfurfural; High speed ball-milling; Liquid-exfoliation; Synergistic catalysis; Ultra-thin layer nanosheets
• ISSN: 1385-8947
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cej.2024.152140

•Ultra-thin layer HTaMoO6 catalyst was successfully prepared by ball-milling/liquid-exfoliation procedure.•This preparation technique offers the benefits of simple operation, short preparation time, and does not require costly intercalating agents.•The exfoliated HTaMoO6 nanosheets possessed favorable Brønsted/Lewis acid ratio and easily accessible active sites.•Good performance for hydration of glucose to HMF yield. The conversion of carbohydrates into 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), a vital and valuable platform chemical, is sought after in industrial applications but poses significant challenges. In this research, we engineered an ultra-thin layer HTaMoO6 catalyst using ball-milling/liquid-exfoliation technique, demonstrating its efficiency in catalyzing the transformation of carbohydrates to HMF. In contrast to the conventional method utilizing tetra(n-butylammonium) hydroxide as the intercalation agent, the ball-milling/liquid-exfoliation technique not only reduces catalyst preparation time (within 12 h) but also enhances the efficient intercalation, leading to the formation of an ultra-thin layer structure. The resulting catalyst exhibits high total acidity, a favorable Brønsted/Lewis acid ratio, and improved accessibility of active sites due to the thin layer structure post-exfoliation. Compared with bulk LiTaMoO6, the ultrathin layer HTaMoO6 catalyst enables complete fructose dehydration with an HMF yield reaching 89.1 % under moderate reaction conditions (120 °C, 1 h) and 47.2 % yield of HMF is obtained from sucrose at 130 °C. This work provides a new method to fabricate the solid acid for the transformation of carbohydrates.