Highly Effective Activated Carbon‐Supported Ni‐Mn Bifunctional Catalyst for Selective Hydrodeoxygenation of 5‐Hydroxymethylfurfural to 2,5‐Dimethylfuran

• Published in: ChemSusChem 2022-07, Vol.15 (13), p.e202200193-n/a
• Main Authors: Liu, Yingxin, Shi, Xiaoyang, Hu, Jinbo, Liu, Kai, Zeng, Mao, Hou, Yaxin, Wei, Zuojun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 2,5-dimethylfuran; 5-hydroxymethylfurfural; Activated carbon; bifunctional catalyst; Biofuels; Biomass; Catalysts; Conversion; hydrogenation; Hydrogenolysis; Hydroxymethylfurfural; Lewis acid; Manganese; Nanoparticles; Nickel
• ISSN: 1864-5631; 1864-564X
• DOI: 10.1002/cssc.202200193

Designing highly efficient and low‐cost catalysts for conversion of renewable biomass into high value‐added chemicals and biofuels is important and challenging. Herein, a non‐noble Ni‐Mn bifunctional catalyst supported on activated carbon (Ni‐Mn/AC) was developed by an incipient wetness impregnation method. The catalyst was found to be economic and efficient for the selective hydrodeoxygenation of biomass‐derived 5‐hydroxymethylfurfural (5‐HMF) to 2,5‐dimethylfuran (2,5‐DMF). The optimal Ni‐Mn/AC (Ni/Mn=3) catalyst achieved 98.5 % 2,5‐DMF yield with 100 % conversion of 5‐HMF under mild reaction conditions of 180 °C, 2.0 MPa H2 for 4 h. Furthermore, the catalyst exhibited outstanding reusability and could be recycled eight times without loss of activity. The addition of Mn not only enhanced the reactivity of 5‐HMF but also resulted in the dominant reaction pathway shift from the hydrogenation of the C=O bond to the hydrogenolysis of C−OH bond, which was attributed to the synergy of highly dispersed Ni metallic nanoparticles and moderate Lewis acid sites from MnOx as revealed by detailed characterizations. Bi bi baby: Herein, a highly efficient and reusable non‐noble Ni‐Mn/AC bifunctional catalyst shows significantly higher performance than monometallic Ni catalyst for the selective hydrodeoxygenation of 5‐hydroxymethylfurfural to 2,5‐dimethylfuran under mild conditions owing to the synergistic effect between Ni metallic nanoparticles and Lewis acid sites from MnOx.