Ni/H-ZSM-5 as a promising catalyst for vapour phase hydrogenation of levulinic acid at atmospheric pressure

Abstract

Among Ni supported on H-ZSM-5 catalysts with various loadings of Ni, a catalyst with 30 weight% Ni has been identified as an effective catalyst for the hydrogenation of levulinic acid to g-valerolactone in vapour phase at atmospheric pressure. The catalysts have been characterized by different techniques such as XRD, BET surface area, pore size distribution, TPR, AAS, pulse chemisorption, FE-SEM-EDS, TEM, XPS and pyridine-adsorbed IR. XRD patterns suggest that the structure of H-ZSM-5 is intact even after incorporation of Ni. Pyridine-adsorbed IR patterns reveal the presence of both Lewis and Brønsted acid sites, which are responsible for the dehydration and cleavage of g-valerolactone. The superior activity exhibited by the 30 wt% Ni/H-ZSM-5 catalyst (demonstrating the highest productivity of 0.9090 kg GVL kg catalyst À1 h À1 at 250 C) is due to the presence of a greater number of surface Ni species. Non-noble metal Ni-based catalysts offer advantages over the present processes involving Ru-based catalysts, which have certain constraints, some of which are unavoidable such as cost ineffectiveness, the use of volatile organic solvents and high pressure operation. The 30 wt% Ni/H-ZSM-5 catalyst can be seen as an alternative and promising catalyst which could be of great importance to the chemical industry.

Role of water in metal catalyst performance for ketone hydrogenation: a joint experimental and theoretical study on levulinic acid conversion into gamma-valerolactone

“…[7][8][9] The CQC bond of the intermediary angelica lactone is then hydrogenated, leading to GVL. This alternative route is not accessible under our mild conditions.…”

Nitrobenzene hydrogenation over Ni/TiO2 catalyst in vapour phase at atmospheric pressure: influence of preparation method

“…The mild deactivation observed in the case of Ni/TiO 2 (R) catalyst might be due to the condensation of reaction intermediate over the catalyst surface and also its hydrophilic nature. The turnover frequency (TOF) of NB on each catalyst is defined as the number of moles of NB converted per one surface Ni atom per second [12]. The data are presented in Table 2.…”

“…Details of all the above techniques and procedures have already been described in our previous publication [11][12][13]. The synthesized catalysts were digested in aqua regia and conducted AAS (M/s.…”

“…Recently, supported nickel catalysts were reported for various organic transformations such as hydrogenation [11][12][13], steam reforming reactions [14], reductive amination of alcohols [15], hydrodechlorination [16,17], partial oxidation [18] and dry reforming of methane [19]. Among, hydrogenation is of great interest to both industry and academia.…”

Hydrogenation of levulinic acid with and without external hydrogen over Ni/SBA-15 catalyst

“…In this connection, the LA hydrogenation was performed under vapour phase conditions without using any additives at atmospheric pressure to produce γ-valerolactone [34]. γ-Valerolactone has a lot of applications as fuels and fuel additives [35][36][37][38][39].…”