Conversion of Furfural to Cyclopentanol on Cu/Zn/Al Catalysts Derived from Hydrotalcite-Like Materials

• Published in: Catalysis letters 2015-08, Vol.145 (8), p.1557-1565
• Main Authors: Wang, Yuan, Zhou, Minghao, Wang, Tongzhen, Xiao, Guomin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aluminum; Catalysis; Catalysts; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Conversion; Copper; Furfural; Hydrogen; Hydrogen storage; Hydrogenation; Industrial Chemistry/Chemical Engineering; Organometallic Chemistry; Physical Chemistry; Pyrolysis; Reaction time; Roasting; X ray photoelectron spectroscopy
• ISSN: 1011-372X; 1572-879X
• DOI: 10.1007/s10562-015-1539-y

The Cu/Zn/Al catalysts, prepared from the calcination and reduction of hydrotalcite-like compounds containing Cu, Zn and Al, were introduced to the aqueous-phase hydrogenation of furfural from pyrolysis of biomass. And the target production was cyclopentanol. The catalyst performance was investigated from the aspects of catalyst composition, calcination temperature, reaction temperature, initial hydrogen pressure and reaction time. Among all the variables, calcination temperature had a profound impact on the catalyst performance. The furfural conversion was up to nearly 100 % with a cyclopentanol yield of 84 %, when the hydrogenation reaction was carried out over 600 °C calcined hydrotalcite catalyst with a Cu/Zn/Al molar ratio of 6:9:5 at 150 °C with an initial hydrogen pressure of 4 MPa for 10 h. The features of Cu/Zn/Al catalysts were investigated via XRD, XPS, TPR, SEM and BET. Graphical Abstract