Abstract
In this study inexpensive, non-toxic, and noble metal free mono- and bimetallic catalysts on activated carbon were tested in liquid phase catalytic furfural hydrotreatment to a potential biofuel component 2-methylfuran. High yields of 2-methylfuran were achieved in the study, the highest yield was achieved with 10 wt-% Ni/C (48.9%) in 120 minutes and good results were obtained also with bimetallic 2/2 wt-% CuNi/C and CuFe/C (yield 44.2 and 41.0%, respectively). These high yields were achieved applying significantly shorter reaction time (60 – 120 min) compared to many published studies. The activity of nickel catalysts was very high resulting eventually in further hydrogenation of 2-methylfuran. With increasing nickel loading also ring-opening and decarbonylation reactions were promoted. Addition of iron to nickel was beneficial for decreasing decarbonylation and other side reactions. Copper/nickel and copper/iron combinations were observed to have beneficial interaction as activity and selectivity to MF increased significantly.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 51-60 |
| Journal | ChemistrySelect |
| Volume | 2 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 10 Jan 2017 |
| MoE publication type | A1 Journal article-refereed |
Funding
This study was financially supported by the Finnish Funding Agency for Innovation (TEKES, grant number 2653/31/2013). Project funded is concerning Novel Catalysts for Biomass Conversion (CatBio). We would also like to give special compliments to Heidi Meriö-Talvio and Tiia Viinikainen for the help with analytical devices and to Sara Castellazzi for experimental help. For TEM results this work made use of the Aalto University Nanomicroscopy Center (Aalto-NMC) premises.
Keywords
- 2-methyfuran
- Biofuel
- carbon
- furfural
- hydrotreatment
