Ni-nanoparticles decorated CePO4 for the selective hydrogenation of furfural to tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol

Abstract

Multiple reduction sites in furfural require suitable metal sites and reaction conditions to achieve a desired reduced product in high yield. Herein, Ni(x%)/CePO4 catalyst has been synthesized for the selective hydrogenation of furfural to tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol. Experiments show that the Ni(10%)/CePO4 catalyst exhibits the highest selectivity and yield of ∼ 89% for the tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol at 423 K and 20 bar H2 pressure. The structure-activity relation has been established using physical properties such as XRD, BET, HR-TEM, and chemical properties such as XPS, NH3-TPD, pyridine FT-IR, and TPR techniques. Finally, based on the catalytic activity data, control reactions, literature reports, physicochemical properties, and furfural adsorption study, the reaction mechanism has been proposed for the formation of tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol on Ni(10%)/CePO4 catalyst. The attractive feature of this work lies in the development of a cheap Ni decorated CePO4 for the selective production of valuable tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol from furfural.