Selective aqueous-phase hydrogenation of furfural to cyclopentanol over Ni-based CNT catalysts

Cyclopentanol (CPL) was an eco-friendly solvent as well as important platform chemical which could be generated from biomass-derived furfural (FFA). In this paper, a series of Ni, Cu, Mo, Co bimetallic catalysts with different metals loadings supported on carbon nanotubes (CNT) were synthesized by an impregnation method for aqueous-phase hydrogenation of FFA to obtain CPL. Various effects of reaction parameters such as reaction solvent, reaction temperature, reaction time and different loading amounts of Ni over bimetallic Ni-based CNT catalysts were fully investigated. Among the catalysts studied, (15 + 5) wt% NiCu/CNT catalysts showed a high conversion of FFA and 88% selectivity towards CPL in water and 96% selectivity towards acetal in methanol at the mild condition of 160℃, 2 MPa hydrogen and 4 h reaction time. NiCu bimetallic synergistic effect was interpreted through H2-TPR and NH3-TPD measurement and a possible pathway was proposed. The features of the CNT-supported catalysts were investigated via XRD, XPS, TEM, H2-TPR and NH3-TPD. The Ni and bimetallic NiCu catalysts synthesized in this work were inexpensive and simple, which made them a promising candidate for the conversion of biomass-derived FFA to CPL.