Abstract
Biomass feedstocks are promising candidates of renewable clean energy. The development and utilization of biological energy is in line with the concept of sustainable development and circular economy. As an important platform chemical, γ-valerolactone (GVL) is often used as green solvent and biofuel additive. Regarding this, the efficient synthesis of GVL from biomass derivative furfural (FF) has attracted wide attention recently, However, suitable catalyst with appropriate acid-base sites is required due to the complex reaction progress. In this Mini Review, the research progress of catalytic synthesis of GVL from furfural by Zr/Hf-based catalysts was reviewed. The different effects of Lewis acid-base and Brønsted acid sites in the catalysts on each steps in the reaction process were discussed firstly. Then the effects of regulation of acid-base sites in the catalysts was also studied. Finally, the advantages and challenges of Zr/Hf-based catalysts in FF converted to GVL system were proposed.
Highlights
The exploration and utilization of fossil energy promote the development of human society, it causes nonnegligible harm to the environment, which makes people focus on available energy to reduce dependence on fossil energy (Roman-Leshkov et al, 2007; Luterbacher et al, 2014; Zhang et al, 2019)
No GVL was detected when only ZSM-5 was used as the catalyst. These results showed that the presence of both Lewis acid-base and Brønsted acid sites in the catalyst was necessary to successfully catalyze the conversion of FF to GVL
This result strongly shows that Brønsted acid is crucial to the ring-opening process involved in the conversion of furfuryl alcohol (FA) to levulinate in this reaction process
Summary
The exploration and utilization of fossil energy promote the development of human society, it causes nonnegligible harm to the environment, which makes people focus on available energy to reduce dependence on fossil energy (Roman-Leshkov et al, 2007; Luterbacher et al, 2014; Zhang et al, 2019). The related research on the synthesis of GVL mainly focuses on the direct hydrogenation or catalytic transfer hydrogenation (CTH)with levulinic acid and its esters as substrates. Both noble metal (Ru, Rh, Pt, Pd, Au) catalysts and non-precious metal (Ni, Cu, Co.). Some excellent reviews are related to the synthesis of GVL, but most of these reviews focus on the synthesis of GVL with levulinic acid and its esters as the substrate (Dutta et al, 2019; Ye et al, 2020b) In this mini-review, the latest progress in the design of high-performance Zr/Hf-based catalysts for GVL production from FF. The reaction parameters in regulating conversion efficiency was discussed, providing insights for the development of efficient, economic, and sustainable catalytic systems that would be important for future research
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