Furfuryl alcohol from furfural hydrogenation over copper supported on SBA-15 silica catalysts

• Cu-SBA15 catalysts are active in hydrogenation of furfural to furfuryl alcohol.
• The Cu-support interaction is higher for intermediate copper loading (15 wt%).
• Long term stability is improved in comparison with copper chromite.
• Selectivity to furfuryl alcohol is higher at low reaction temperature.

Vapor phase furfural hydrogenation has been investigated over Cu supported on SBA-15 silica catalysts. These SBA-Cu catalysts, with variable Cu loadings (8, 15 and 20 wt%), have been prepared by impregnation and characterized by N2 sorption, XRD, XPS, N2O decomposition and TEM techniques. Compared with copper chromite, SBA-Cu catalysts showed a better catalytic performance, reaching a furfural conversion of 54 mol% and a selectivity to furfuryl alcohol of 95 mol%, after 5 h of time-on-stream at 170 °C, with the 15 wt% Cu catalyst. The studies of the used catalysts by CNH analysis and thermo-programmed oxidation (TPO) evidenced a lower amount of carbonaceous deposits on this used SBA-15Cu catalyst. Moreover, the study of the copper dispersion by XPS, before and after the catalytic test, revealed that this intermediate copper loading gives rise to the most stable copper particles. The evaluation of the effect of different reaction parameters, such as reaction temperature (170–270 °C), catalyst loadings and furfural concentration and H2 flow, on the catalytic performance has demonstrated that higher conversion are attained at low reaction temperature, and, as expected, by using high catalyst weight and low furfural feed.

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