Integrated Catalytic Process to Directly Convert Furfural to Levulinate Ester with High Selectivity

Abstract

Levulinic acid is an important platform molecule from biomass-based renewable resources. A sustainable manufacturing process for this chemical and its derivatives is the enabling factor to harness the renewable resource. An integrated catalytic process to directly convert furfural to levulinate ester was developed based on a bifunctional catalyst of Pt nanoparticles supported on a ZrNb binary phosphate solid acid. The hydrogenation of furfural and the following alcoholysis of furfuryl alcohol were performed over this catalyst in a one-pot conversion model. Mesoporous ZrNb binary phosphate was synthesized by a sol-gel method and had a high surface area of 170.1 m(2) g(-1) and a large average pore size of around 8.0 nm. Pt nanoparticles remained in a monodisperse state on the support, and the reaction over Pt/ZrNbPO4 (Pt loading: 2.0 wt%; Zr/Nb, 1:1) gave a very high selectivity to levulinate derivatives (91% in total). The sustainability of this conversion was greatly improved by the process intensification based on the new catalyst, mild reaction conditions, cost abatement in separation and purification, and utilization of green reagents and solvents.

Preparation of methyl levulinate from fractionation of direct liquefied bamboo biomass

“…The traditional method of producing MLA from lignocellulosic biomass has three steps: (1) produce glucose or 5-hydroxymethyl furfural (HMF) by cellulose hydrolysis in water [8,14]; (2) produce levulinic acid (LA) through dehydration and rearrangement of glucose [15]; and (3) generate MLA by esterification of LA with alcohols. This process has many drawbacks, such as a long reaction route [16][17][18][19] and the considerable amount of energy needed to remove the large volumes of water during LA purification.…”

Hydrogenation of levulinic acid to γ-valerolactone over anatase-supported Ru catalysts: Effect of catalyst synthesis protocols on activity

“…The family of LA derivatives is large and some have much potential for commercialization. For instance, LA can be converted to 2-methyltetrahydrofuran (MTHF) and various levulinate esters, which may be used as gasoline and biodiesel additives, respectively [3][4][5][6][7][8]. δ-Aminolevulinic acid is a well-known herbicide and β-acetylacrylic acid has been proposed as a (co-)monomer for novel acrylate polymers [1].…”

Conversion of carbohydrates to methyl levulinate catalyzed by sulfated montmorillonite

“…There were two main preparation methods reported. One was from biomass-derived feedstocks, such as: LA, furfuryl alcohol and furfural [10][11][12], which was costly. For this reason, researchers developed another new and efficient approach to produce levulinate esters by the alcoholysis of cellulosic biomass or carbohydrates under acidic conditions [13][14][15].…”