A cheap, scalable and efficient nickel catalyst on nitrogen-doped carbon for the aqueous-phase hydrogenation of biomass-derived compounds in flow system.

The continuous flow synthesis of p-Xylene (pXL) via Diels-Alder cycloaddition of lignocellulosic biomass-derivable 2,5-dimethylfuran (DMF) and acrylic acid (AA) was performed over different type of zeolites, i.e. Beta, ZSM-5 and...

Waste lignocellulosic biomass is sustainable and an alternative feedstock to fossil resources. Among the lignocellulosic derived compounds, 2,5-dimethylfuran (DMF) is a promising building block for chemicals, e.g., p-xylene, and a valuable biofuel. DMF can be obtained from 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) via catalytic deoxygenation using non-noble metals such as Ni in the presence of H2. Herein, we present the synthesis of DMF from HMF using 35 wt.% Ni on nitrogen-doped carbon pellets (35Ni/NDC) as a catalyst in a continuous flow system. The conversion of HMF to DMF was studied at different hydrogen pressures, reaction temperatures, and space times. At the best reaction conditions, i.e., 423 K, 8.0 MPa, and space time 6.4 kgNi h kgHMF−1, the 35Ni/NDC catalyst exhibited high catalytic activity with HMF conversion of 99 mol% and 80 mol% of DMF. These findings can potentially contribute to the transition toward the production of sustainable fine chemicals and liquid transportation fuels.

Sustainable, high-performance carbonaceous anode materials are highly required to bring sodium-ion batteries on a more competitive level. Here, we exploit our expertise to control the deposition of a nm-sized conformal...