HYDROGENATION OF FURFURAL TO FURFURYL ALCOHOL

Abstract

The resources used for the production of energy and valuable products traditionally have had an impact on pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Hence biomass as a bioresource can be used to replace non-renewable resources. Furfural is a biomass-derived substance that can be used for the further production of value-added products. Furfuryl alcohol is such a valuable product that can be obtained via selective hydrogenation of FFR. This study explored the catalytic transfer hydrogenation of FFR over Ni/MOFA520 catalyst. In this catalyst, Ni particles are supported on the alumina derived from Al-based MOF, MOFA520. The X-ray diffraction (XRD), N2 adsorption-desorption, temperature programmed reduction (TPR), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) techniques were employed to investigate and characterize the physicochemical properties of the catalyst. The performance of the above catalyst was evaluated in stainless steel batch reactor in the temperature range of 160-220°C and for a reaction time of 3-6h. The reactor was supplied with a feed comprising of a mixture of isopropyl alcohol, which served as both the hydrogen donor and reaction solvent and FFR in a ratio of 25:1. This study resulted in around 92% of FFR conversion and 90.5% of FAL yield over 5Ni/MOFA520 catalyst at 220°C reaction temperature and 6h reaction time.