Zinc-electrocatalyzed hydrogenation of furfural in near-neutral electrolytes

Abstract

Electrocatalytic hydrogenation (ECH) of biomass-derived platform chemicals is a sustainable way to produce value added fuels and chemicals as compared to the chemo-catalytic hydrogenation pathway. In this work, zinc metal...

Electrochemical Hydrogenation, Hydrogenolysis, and Dehydrogenation for Reductive and Oxidative Biomass Upgrading Using 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural as a Model System

“…Nonacidic Conditions Promoting Aldehyde Hydrogenation. Hydrogenation of HMF to BHMF and furfural to furfuryl alcohol in nonacidic media has been demonstrated with various metals (e.g., Cu, 13,14,18−22 Ag, 13,14,19,23,24 Ni, 13,14,18,20−23 Fe, 14,18,21,23 Co, 14,20,22 Pd, 20,22 Ru, 20,22 Rh, 20,22 In, 13,14,23 Cd, 14 Zn, 23,25 and Pb 26 ). The resulting BHMF is a valuable monomer for various industrially important polymerization processes (e.g., polyester and polyurethane foams), 27 and furfuryl alcohol is widely used in foundry resins, corrosion-resistant cements, wood protection, and drug synthesis.…”

Biomass-derived 2-methyltetrahydrofuran platform: a focus on precious and non-precious metal-based catalysts for the biorefinery

“…Cu, though not a precious metal, was found to be more active towards furfural conversion; however, as with all other electrodes tested, 145 the system suffers from deactivation in the acidic medium, which is contrary to the report by Green et al 140 The deactivation results from resinification reactions; furfural polymerizes in the presence of heat and acid to produce difuryl ketonic aldehyde and trifurylic dialdehyde where trifurylic dialdehyde undergoes further polymerization, leaving black resins on the catalyst surface covering active phases, hence inhibiting activity. 88 Whereas there is literature for converting furfural to MTHF or MTHF intermediates, 140,141,144–147 the literature for electrocatalytic conversion of levulinic acid or other biomass precursors to MTHF as a major product is bleak. A summary of the electrocatalytic hydrogenation of furfural to MTHF is given in Table 4.…”

Unraveling the reaction mechanisms for furfural electroreduction on copper

“…Furfuryl alcohol and hydrofuroin are the most common products, while 2-methyl furan and tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol are only selectively produced on limited metals at very acidic conditions. [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] In particular, copper shows potential as a multi-selective electrocatalyst for furfural reduction, as it is able to produce both FAL, a precursor to polymers and resin, 15 and 2-MF, a well-known alternative drop-in biofuel, 16 with nearly 100% selectivity at moderate potentials (ca. À0.6 V vs. RHE).…”