Catalytic transfer hydrogenation (CTH) was concerned great attention because it does not need the use of high pressure H2. A series of Cu catalysts has been prepared for transfer hydrogenation of biomass derived furfural to furfuryl alcohol with formic acid. The prepared Cu based catalysts are thoroughly characterized by various technique such as XRD, TPR, TPD (NH3, CO2), TEM, FT‐IR, UV‐Vis, N2O pulse chemisorption and N2‐physorption method. For a comparison point of view, the activity tests of various copper based catalysts have also been carried out. Among all these, MgAl2O4 (MA) supported copper catalyst was found to be the best to give 90% selectivity of furfuryl alcohol from transfer hydrogenation of furfural. The excellent yield of furfuryl alcohol could be attributed to high density of surface active Cu species, proper surface acidic‐basic properties and metal support interaction. Moreover, Cu/MA catalyst was simply recovered and reused, which retained its original activity even after reaction without significant loss of original activity. Supporting its reusability and stability.
Vapor phase hydrogenation of levulinic acid using formic acid as a hydrogen source has been conducted over ordered mesoporous Cu/Fe 2 O 3 catalysts prepared by hard template method using mesoporous silica, SBA-15. X-ray diffraction result reveals the absence of copper peaks because of either highly dispersed state, or formation of a solid solution with iron oxides. The N 2 sorption analysis and TEM results indicate the retainment of mesoporous nature in the samples. Among the catalysts tested, 10 (wt%) Cu/Fe 2 O 3 seems to be an efficient catalyst to yield higher amounts of γ-valerolactone under hydrogen-free conditions. The results reveal the formation of spinel species, which gets reduced easily at a lower temperature (as evidenced from TPR studies), and as a consequence of this synergism, significant improvement in the catalytic performance for the synthesis of γ-valerolactone from levulinic acid and formic acid in presence of water has been achieved. The presence of water plays a crucial role in obtaining a higher yield of γ-valerolactone. This makes the catalytic system a viable methodology for hydrogenation of levulinic acid to get γ-valerolactone.
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