Phosphotungstic acid immobilized over SnO2 mesoporous material as a heterogeneous catalyst for fructose to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural conversion

Abstract

5-Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) is regarded as an essential platform chemical due to its flexible nature that could be converted into a variety of value-added compounds including production of liquid fuels and fine chemicals. We have developed a phosphotungstic acid (PTA) immobilized over SnO2 mesoporous material by hydrothermally employing Pluronic P123 as a structure directing agent (SDA) to obtain a heterogeneous catalyst for fructose to HMF conversion, and the catalyst is designated as MSnPTA. The powder X-ray diffraction patterns in low angle region, type IV isotherm and fringes of the catalyst confirmed the mesoporosity of the material. The catalyst is comprised of BET surface area of 85.86 m2/g and average pore diameter of 7.9 nm. Spherical shape through worm like structure formed small particles facilitated the large surface area of the MSnPTA catalyst that prefer to occur the catalytic reaction. The uniform elemental distribution of PTA over SnO2 ascribed more active sites, resulting in high acidity of the catalyst as measured by TPD of ammonia, which increased the conversion of fructose to high yield of HMF in a short reaction time. The yield of the HMF increased as increasing the amount of catalyst and temperature as expected.