Selective conversion of furfural to cyclopentanone over CNT-supported Cu based catalysts: Model reaction for upgrading of bio-oil

•Furfural was converted to cyclopentanone over CNT supported bimetallic catalysts.•Promotion effect was observed with the addition of either Co, Mo, Zn or Ni.•The cleavage of CO bond and formation of new CC bond to give CPO was proposed.

CNT supported Cu based catalysts were prepared for the selective conversion of biomass-derived furfural to cyclopentanone in aqueous solution. The promotion effect was investigated with the addition of Co, Mo, Zn and Ni in Cu/CNT catalyst. The product distribution was greatly affected by the metal composition. Among those catalysts, CuZn/CNT catalyst exhibited better selectivity toward cyclopentanone with satisfactory furfural conversion in mild condition than other catalysts. The effects of process parameters including metal compositions, reaction temperature, hydrogen pressure on the product distribution were investigated in detail over CuZn/CNT. The surface area, metal composition, surface morphology and acidity of the catalysts were characterized by BET, AAS, XPS, XRD, TEM and NH3-TPD. According to the XRD and XPS results, the main species on the CNT surface was mainly Cu0. Meanwhile, possible conversion pathways over different catalysts were proposed based on the product distribution. The addition of Zn would be helpful to the cleavage of CO bond and the formation of new CC bond to give the intermediate 2-cyclopentenone, which was further hydrogenated to either cyclopentanone.

Graphical abstractPromotion effect of different metal was studied for the selective conversion of furfural to cyclopentanone over Cu based catalysts.Download high-res image (122KB)Download full-size image