Highly Active CuFeAl-containing Catalysts for Selective Hydrogenation of Furfural to Furfuryl Alcohol

Abstract

CuFe-containing catalysts with different copper oxide content were prepared by fusion of metal salts. The obtained catalyst showed high activity in the hydrogenation of furfural to furfuryl alcohol (FA) in the batch reactor in the presence of isopropanol as a solvent at a temperature of 100 °C and a hydrogen pressure of 6.0 MPa. The yield of FA and furfural conversion are 97% and 98%, respectively. In the solvent-free reaction in the flow-type reactor; the most active catalyst Cu20Fe66Al14 leads to the 96% formation of FA with 100% conversion of furfural at liquid hourly space velocity (LHSV) = 1 h−1; 160 °C and a hydrogen pressure of 5.0 MPa during 30 h. According to the X-ray diffraction (XRD) method, the active component of the spent and fresh Cu20Fe66Al14 catalyst is the same and is represented by metallic copper and Fe3O4-type spinel. Using different methods, the formation of active sites was investigated.

Continuous Flow Upgrading of Selected C2–C6Platform Chemicals Derived from Biomass

“…639,640 >99−90% yield was maintained during a 75 h run at a rather mild temperature (160 °C, Table 23, entry 18). 639 However, the low temperature was balanced by 23, entry 13). 618 It was demonstrated that a 5 bar counterpressure was critical for improving the yield in furfuryl alcohol (99) and the stability of the catalyst.…”

“…Furfuryl alcohol is readily produced at the industrial level from the gas-phase reduction of furfural with hydrogen over Cu-based catalysts . Nevertheless, numerous recent reports in the primary literature were still devoted to the development of new catalysts for the gas-phase reduction of furfural into furfuryl alcohol in the presence of hydrogen. − The main challenge of this reaction is related to the activity of the catalyst, which has to be finely tuned to reduce the aldehyde moiety of furfural only. Catalytic sites endowed with an overly high reducing ability are also prone to further reduce furfuryl alcohol ( 99 ) into 2-methylfuran ( 101 ), tetrahydro­furfuryl alcohol ( 102 ), and 2-methyltetra­hydrofuran ( 103 ) (Scheme ) as well as many other undesired compounds resulting from ring-opening.…”

Selective Hydrogenation of Furfural: Pure Silica Supported Metal Catalysts

“…Of course, some studies have shown that CuFeAl trimetal can get high selectivity, 100 % furfural conversion without support. [57] Iron is known to be abundant but less reactive, while nickel is known to be reactive but faces deactivation. Putro et al [58] prepared a NiÀ Fe alloy catalyst for the hydrogenation of biomass furfural to furfuryl alcohol by a simple hydrothermal method.…”

Hydrogenation of furfural to furfuryl alcohol over MOF-derived Fe/Cu@C and Fe3O4/Cu@C catalysts

“…9,10 Recently, Fe-modified Cu-based catalysts have been applied successfully for the hydrogenation of furfural. [11][12][13][14][15][16] Moreover, liquid-phase furfural hydrogenation normally requires alcohols as the solvent. Under hydrogen reaction conditions, direct catalytic hydrogenation with molecular hydrogen as the hydrogen source receives a great deal of attention, but catalytic transfer hydrogenation is often ignored.…”