Catalytic in-Situ Hydrogenation of Furfural over Bimetallic Cu–Ni Alloy Catalysts in Isopropanol

Abstract

Al 2 O 3 -supported Cu and Ni monometallic as well as Cu−Ni bimetallic catalysts were synthesized using a coprecipitation method and studied for the in-situ hydrogenation of furfural (FAL) with isopropanol as the solvent and hydrogen donor. The Cu−Ni bimetallic catalysts showed improved activity toward the production of 2-methylfuran (2-MF) and 2-methyltetrahydrofuran (2-MTHF) over that of monometallic catalysts. The results indicated that isopropanol exhibited better performance than methanol for the insitu hydrogenation of FAL to produce 2-MF and 2-MTHF under the same conditions. The reaction conditions such as the copper− nickel ratios, catalyst loading amount, reaction temperature, and time were optimized. After the reaction was complete, the supported Cu−Ni bimetallic catalyst could be reused four times without a significant loss in catalytic activity.

Catalytic Transfer Hydrogenation of Furfural over Co3O4−Al2O3 Hydrotalcite‐derived Catalyst

“…Up to date, the studies on CTH of F over hydrotalcite derived catalysts focused on employment of reduced Cu‐based catalysts because the preferred adsorption model of F on metallic Cu favours the unique hydrogenation of the carbonyl group . Zhang et al .…”

“…Thus, Zhang et al . reported the production of FA (94 % yield) over CuO−Al 2 O 3 using methanol as hydrogen donor at 200 °C, whereas Cu−MgO−Al 2 O 3 and Cu−Ni/Al 2 O 3 catalysts (whose activation involved hydrogen reduction steps) were also used for CTH of F in 2‐propanol obtaining FA yields over 60 % …”

Recent Advances in Catalytic Hydrogenation of Furfural

“…Moreover, furfural transfer hydrogenation over monometallic and bimetallic Cu-Ni catalysts supported on Al 2 O 3 has been investigated by Zhang et al [130]. It was found that furfuryl ether outcomes as major by-product by using Cu/Al 2 O 3 catalyst, and Ni/Al 2 O 3 material results Catalysts 2019, 9, 796 7 of 33 in ring-opening products, while Cu-Ni/Al 2 O 3 bimetallic catalysts (especially with Cu/Ni = 1/2) showed improved activity towards the production of MF and MTHF.…”

Highly Active Mesoporous Cu−Al2O3 Catalyst for the Hydrodeoxygenation of Furfural to 2‐methylfuran

“…Binary and ternary Cu-based systems for the HDO of FUR have been thoroughly researched, employing acidic materials such as H-ZSM-5, TiO 2 , SiO 2 , and Al 2 O 3 . [11,[13][14][15][16][17] Their role is to support mono-or bi-metallic catalysts [18][19][20][21] or to enhance the acidity of the catalyst at minor elemental composition. [9,22] From various combinations of metal, support, and sometimes promoter, we seek a simplistic binary catalyst system to allow for a straightforward investigation of the catalytic activity and the role of the support.…”