Highly stable Ru nanoparticles incorporated in mesoporous carbon catalysts for production of γ-valerolactone

Abstract

The hydrogenation of levulinic acid to γ-valerolactone with water as solvent is a crucial reaction for producing fine chemicals. However, the development of highly stable catalysts is still a major challenge. Here, we prepared a Ru nanoparticles incorporated in mesoporous-carbon (Ru-MC) catalyst to achieve high stability in acidic aqueous medium. The Ru-MC showed excellent catalytic performance (12024 h−1 turnover frequency) in the hydrogenation of LA-to-GVL. Compared with Ru supported on mesoporous carbon catalyst (Ru/MC) prepared by conventional wet impregnation method, the Ru-MC showed excellent reusability (more than 6 times) and thermal stability (up to 600 °C). Based on H2-TPR-MS characterization, it was proposed that the incorporated structure significantly increased the interaction between Ru nanoparticles and carbon support, which effectively prevent the leaching and sintering of Ru nanoparticles and contributed to increased high reusability and thermal stability of the Ru-MC.