Abstract
Considering economic and environmental impacts, catalytic biomass conversion to valuable compounds has attracted more and more attention. Of particular interest is furfural, a versatile biorefinery platform molecule used as a feedstock for the production of fuels and fine chemicals. In this study, the Cr-based metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) MIL-101 were modified by chlorosulfonic acid, and MIL-101 was changed into a hierarchical MOF structure with smaller particles and lower particle crystallinity by CTAB, which significantly improved the acidic sites of the MOFs. The original and modified MIL-101(Cr) catalysts were characterized by XRD, N2 adsorption-desorption, SEM, TEM, and FT-IR. The effects of different catalysts, reaction temperature, catalyst amount, and alcohol type on the reaction were studied. Under the action of the MOFs catalyst, a new mild route for the condensation of furfural with various alkyl alcohols to the biofuel molecules (acetals) was proposed. The conversion route includes the conversion of furfural up to 91% yield of acetal could be obtained within 1 h solvent-free and in room-temperature reaction conditions. The sulfonic acid-functionalized MIL-101(Cr) is easy to recover and reuse, and can still maintain good catalytic activity after ten runs.
Highlights
At present, fossil carbon resources are the origin of more than 95% of the world’s chemicals and materials
Pristine and modified MIL-101(Cr) catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), SEM, TEM, Fourier transform infrared spectrum (FT-IR), and N2 adsorption, and the influence of the main reaction parameters was examined
The XRD pattern of the prepared MA was in high coincidence with the after sulfonation
Summary
Fossil carbon resources are the origin of more than 95% of the world’s chemicals and materials. The use of renewable carbon resources to produce current and new generations of chemicals and materials has been highly valued [1]. The development of alternative technologies based on sustainable resources to offset the increase in fossil energy prices caused by depletion and global warming and minimize people’s dependence on fossil fuel reserves is imminent [2,3]. Obtaining fuel alternatives from renewable biomass resources is a viable route. Lignocellulose is the second most abundant component in biomass. Some monomers in lignocellulosic biomass have been widely studied for their use in deriving more useful platform molecules, such as
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