Efficient hydrogenolysis of furfural to 1,2-Pentanediol over Ce-Doped Cu-MgO-Al2O3 catalysts

The conventional production of 1,2-pentanediol (1,2-PeD) from fossil fuels suffers from high energy consumption and significant environmental pressure. Therefore, developing efficient catalysts to enable the hydrolytic hydrogenation of biomass-derived furfural (FF) is an urgent requirement for obtaining a green alternative. In this work, a membrane dispersion microreactor was successfully employed to incorporate Ce into a Cu-based catalyst for the catalytic hydro conversion of FF to 1,2-PeD. The optimum process conditions were determined by orthogonal reaction: 170 ℃, 6 MPa, 5.5 h. Under these conditions, FF was completely converted with the selectivity increased to 44%, resulting in a yield 2.2 times higher than that obtained with the undoped Ce catalyst. Furthermore, the catalyst exhibited excellent stability with no significant activity loss after five cycles of use. The characterization results show that the introduction of Ce significantly improved the dispersion of the active components, effectively suppressed the agglomeration of Cu particles, and increased the specific surface area of the catalysts; the calcination temperature changes the number of basic sites on the surface of the catalyst and affects the mode of adsorption of the intermediate furfuryl alcohol (FFA), thus affecting the catalyst performance.