High Performance and Sustainable Copper-Modified Hydroxyapatite Catalysts for Catalytic Transfer Hydrogenation of Furfural

Balla Putrakumar,Prem Kumar Seelam,Karthikeyan Rajan,Ginjupalli Srinivasarao,Tongxiang Liang,K Ramachandra Rao,Rajendiran Rajesh

doi:10.3390/catal10091045

Abstract

Designing and developing non-noble metal-based heterogeneous catalysts have a substantial importance in biomass conversion. Meerwein-Ponndorf-Verley (MPV) reaction is a significant pathway for eco-friendly catalytic transfer hydrogenation (CTH) of biomass derived furfural into furfuryl alcohol. In this work, a series of copper-supported hydroxyapatite (HAp) catalysts with different copper loadings (2–20 wt.%) were prepared by a facile impregnation method and tested in the reduction of furfural to furfuryl alcohol using 2-propanol as a hydrogen donor. The structural and chemical properties of the synthesised catalysts were analysed by using various techniques (XRD, N2 sorption, SEM, TEM, UV-DRS, ICP, FTIR, TPR, TPD-CO2 and N2O titration). The effect of copper loading was found to be significant on the total performance of the catalysts. The results demonstrate that 5CuHAp catalyst possess highly dispersed copper particles and high basicity compared to all other catalysts. Overall, 5CuHAp exhibited highest conversion (96%) and selectivity (100%) at 140 °C at 4 h time on stream. The optimised reaction conditions were also determined to gain the high activity.

Highlights

Energy and chemical intermediates are primarily derived from conventional sources such as natural gas, oil and coal
A conclude that copper oxide is highly dispersed at lower loadings on HAp support i.e., for the52ofand
These results are well matched with X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns

Summary

Introduction

Energy and chemical intermediates are primarily derived from conventional sources such as natural gas, oil and coal. This causes, exacerbation of environmental problems and depletion of resources [1]. There is an urgent need to analyse the renewability, economy and inexhaustible substitutes that can produce equal or higher energy yields to replace and avoiding usage of fossil fuels. Biomass-derived products often expose superior qualities related to the environment than their fossil fuel-based counterparts [2,3]. Furfural (FA) is widely used platform molecule which is derived from lignocellulosic biomass via acid hydrolysis [4]. Catalytic transformation of biomass-based furfural is one of the efficient valorisation

Methods

Results

Conclusion