Renewable Cyclopentanol From Catalytic Hydrogenation-Rearrangement of Biomass Furfural Over Ruthenium-Molybdenum Bimetallic Catalysts.

Shihang Meng,Xiaolong Wang,Zhenfei Wang,Maohong Fan,Yujing Weng,Hongxing Yin,Yulong Zhang,Qi Sun

doi:10.3389/fbioe.2020.615235

Abstract

Biomass furfural-like compounds are chemicals that cannot be extracted from fossil materials, through which a large number of fine chemicals and fuel additives can be opened up, but one big efficiency problem during the transformation is the accumulation of oligomers. Here, we propose a novel and efficient Ru-Mo bimetallic catalyst for selective hydrogenation-rearrangement of furfural-like compounds. The result showed that an unprecedented rearrangement product selectivity of 89.1% to cyclopentanol was achieved under an optimized reaction condition over a 1%Ru−2.5%Mo/CNT catalyst reduced at 600°C. Subsequent characterization suggested that the catalyst presented with weak acidity and strong hydrogenation activity for the reaction, which not only ensures the smooth hydrogenation-rearrangement reaction but also inhibits the accumulation of furan polymers. These findings provide a convenient strategy to tune the catalytic performance of Mo-based catalysts by controlling the reduction and carburization conditions, which appear to be versatile for the rearrangement of furans and similar compounds.

Highlights

Nowadays, petrochemicals act as the largest driver of global oil consumption, but problems relating to the reserves and environmental pollutions are challenging
The investigation of the proportion of bimetallic components suggested that an increase in the ratio of Ru and Mo content in the catalyst was conducive to the production of tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol (THFA), but it is difficult to continue the rearrangement reaction according to the relevant literatures (Zhang et al, 2016, 2019; Mironenko et al, 2018)
We reported the design of a low loading bimetallic Ru-Mo/CNT catalyst for the hydrogenation-rearrangement reaction of furfural into cyclopentanol with high selectivity in the aqueous phase

Summary

Introduction

Petrochemicals act as the largest driver of global oil consumption, but problems relating to the reserves and environmental pollutions are challenging. It was found that the catalyst with low metal loading had better catalytic performance in the rearrangement of furfural to CPL, among which the yield of CPL could reach as high as 89% under the optimized reaction condition (180◦C and 4 MPa) over 1%Ru−2.5%Mo/CNT (reduced at 600◦C).

Results

Conclusion