Catalytic one-pot conversion of biomass-derived furfural to ethyl levulinate over bifunctional Nb/Ni@OMC

Yiwei Tang, Xiaoning Liu, Ran Xi, Le Liu and Xinhua Qi

Renewable Energy, 2022, vol. 200, issue C, 821-831

Abstract: As one of the important chemical feedstocks and biofuels, ethyl levulinate (EL) can be produced from biomass-derived furfural by consecutive hydrogenation, etherification and ring-opening reactions. However, this process normally requires two separate steps in different reaction systems, which is complex and energy consumption. Herein, Nb–Ni bifunctional ordered mesoporous carbons (Nb/Ni@OMCs) were synthesized by a two-step process where Ni@OMC was firstly synthesized by a solvent evaporation induced self-assembly (EISA) process using F127 as a template agent, polyphenol gallic acid as carbon precursor and Ni2+ as cross-linker, following with the supporting of Nb species in the Ni@OMC by an incipient wetness impregnation method. The as-synthesized Nb/Ni@OMC samples were applied for the one-pot catalytic transformation of furfural to EL, and exhibited good activity with the highest EL yield of 83% under an optimized condition. Two possible pathways for the one-pot production of EL were proposed according to two intermediates: (1) hydrogenation of furfural to form furfuryl alcohol (FFA) that is then etherified with ethanol to form 2-(ethoxymethyl)furan (2-EMF); and (2) acetalization and etherification of furfural with ethanol to produce 2-(diethoxymethyl)furan (2-DMF). Then both 2-DMF and 2-EMF are converted to EL through acid catalyzed ring opening reaction. The dominant reaction pathway varied with the properties of the catalyst and the applied reaction conditions.

Keywords: Bifunctional catalyst; Furfural; Ethyl levulinate; Biomass; OMC (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:200:y:2022:i:c:p:821-831

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2022.09.117

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