Vapour phase hydrogenolysis of biomass-derived diethyl succinate to tetrahydrofuran over CuOZnO/solid acid bifunctional catalysts

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Catalytic upgrading of fermentation-derived succinic acid or its derivates (succinic acid esters and succinic anhydride) to value added chemicals has received great attention recently. The aim of this work is to provide a process for the production of tetrahydrofuran from succinic acid esters. RESULTS: The hydrogenolysis of biomass-derived diethyl succinate was investigated over CuOZnO and CuOZnO/solid acid (HY, HZSM-5, SAPO-11 and Al2O3) catalysts in a fixed-bed reactor. Over CuOZnO, gamma-butyrolactone and 1,4-butanediol can be selectively produced under appropriate reaction conditions, while the selectivity of tetrahydrofuran is relatively low due to the weak acidity of CuOZnO. Over CuOZnO/HZSM, both the formed 1,4-butanediol and ethanol can be further converted to tetrahydrofuran and diethyl ether, while tetrahydrofuran is selectively produced over CuOZnO/HY. CuOZnO/Al2O3 and CuOZnO/SAPO exhibit slight improvements in terms of selectivity to tetrahydrofuran when compared with CuOZnO. CONCLUSION: CuOZnO/HY is an appropriate catalyst to produce tetrahydrofuran from biomass-derived diethyl succinate with high activity, selectivity and stability. Furthermore, Bronsted acid sites with appropriate acid strength are responsible for the selective formation of tetrahydrofuran under the applied reaction conditions. Copyright © 2010 Society of Chemical Industry