Catalytic conversion of furfural to industrial chemicals over supported Pt and Pd catalysts

• Pd/Al2O3 and Pt/Al2O3 catalyze the conversion of furfural to value-added chemicals.
• Remarkably, high catalytic activity even at room temperature.
• Pt facilitates CO hydrogenation while Pd leads to furan ring hydrogenation.
• Furfural is decarbonylated over Pd at 240 °C in the absence of hydrogen.
• Metal particle size and acidity of the support influence product selectivity.

Several industrial chemicals were prepared by hydrogenation of furfural over γ-Al2O3-supported Pt and Pd catalysts. These catalysts were active even at room temperature (25 °C). While the Pt catalysts were selective for CO hydrogenation (yielding furfuryl alcohol), Pd facilitated ring hydrogenation (producing tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol). At high temperature (240 °C), the Pd catalyst exhibited excellent decarbonylation activity forming furan with 85% yield. The catalyst was reusable even in the absence of external hydrogen. The presence of hydrogen led to ring-opened products. Furan was quantitatively converted at 25 °C to tetrahydrofuran. Acidity of the support made a marked influence on the activity and selectivity. Pt on SO4–ZrO2 favored hydrogenolysis yielding 2-methyl furan along with furan with >75 wt% selectivity. Particle size, metal dispersion, and solvent influenced catalytic activity. Differences in structure and mode of furfural adsorption were also the causes for variations in selectivity of these supported Pt and Pd catalysts.

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