A New Lewis Acidic Zr Catalyst for the Synthesis of Furanic Diesel Precursor from Biomass Derived Furfural and 2-Methylfuran

Abstract

Herein, we reported the first time to use Lewis type acidic Zr/SBA-15 catalyst for the hydroxyalkylation/alkylation (HAA) reaction of biomass derived furfural and 2-methylfuran (2-MF) to produce diesel precursors. Characterizations such as XRD, XPS, SEM and TEM, were used to provide detailed structure features of mesoporous catalysts of varied Si/Zr ratios. Among the catalysts, Zr/SBA-15(20) (Si/Zr ratio(mol:mol) = 20:1) possessed the highest catalytic activity in the HAA reaction, providing 93.9% yield of the target product at 140 °C under neat condition. Lewis acid was revealed as the dominant active sites for the HAA reaction. Reaction parameters including reaction temperature, catalyst loading and furfural/2-MF ratio were investigated and found to affect the reaction efficiency and product yields. Besides, the optimal Zr/SBA-15(20) catalyst maintained outstanding recyclability in the recycling test, offering almost comparable reaction yields as freshly prepared catalyst. This work not only opens up a new concept by using Lewis catalyst for HAA reaction to synthesize diesel precursors from biomass, but also enriches the catalyst inventory of HAA reaction by providing a pH-neutral, recyclable and stable catalyst.