Catalytic Conversion of Cellulose to Ethylene Glycol over a Low‐Cost Binary Catalyst of Raney Ni and Tungstic Acid

Abstract Following our previous report on the selective transformation of cellulose to ethylene glycol (EG) over a binary catalyst composed of tungstic acid and Ru/C, we herein report a new low‐cost but more effective binary catalyst by using Raney nickel in place of Ru/C (Raney Ni+H 2 WO 4 ). In addition to tungstic acid, other W compounds were also investigated in combination with Raney Ni. The results showed that the EG yield depended on the W compound: H 4 SiW 12 O 40 <H 3 PW 12 O 40 <WO 3 <H 2 WO 4 , but all the investigated W compounds were selective towards EG. Moreover, both WO 3 and H 2 WO 4 were dissolved partially under the reaction conditions and transformed into H x WO 3 , which is the genuinely active species for the CC bond breakage of cellulose. This result further confirmed that the reaction that involves the selective breakage of the CC bonds of cellulose with W species is homogenous. Among various binary catalysts, the combination of Raney Ni and H 2 WO 4 gave the highest yield of EG (65 %), which could be attributed to the high activity of Raney Ni for hydrogenation and its inertness for the further degradation of EG. Moreover, Raney Ni+H 2 WO 4 showed good reusability; it could be reused at least 17 times without any decay in the EG yield, which shows its great potential for industrial applications.