Influence of support of CuNi bimetal catalysts in the hydrogenative rearrangement of furfuryl alcohol to cyclopentanone

Abstract BACKGROUND The sustainable synthesis of cyclopentanone from biomass‐derived furfural and/or furfuryl alcohol has attracted widespread attention in the carbon‐neutral industry. In this study, we investigated the influence of support textural properties and acidity on the catalytic performance of supported CuNi alloy nanoparticles (5 wt%–5 wt%). RESULTS CuNi alloy particles with a size of approximately 16 nm were obtained on SiO 2 and Al‐containing siliceous materials (Al‐MCM‐41, MCM‐22, USY‐6, ZSM‐5 and H‐Beta). The number of total acid sites follows the trend of 5Cu5Ni/H‐Beta (1.37 mmol g −1 ) > 5Cu5Ni/ZSM‐5 (1.03 mmol g −1 ) > 5Cu5Ni/MCM‐22 (0.87 mmol g −1 ) > 5Cu5Ni/USY‐6 (0.70 mmol g −1 ) > 5Cu5Ni/Al 2 O 3 (0.35 mmol g −1 ) > 5Cu5Ni/SiO 2 (0.24 mmol g −1 ). 5Cu5Ni/ZSM‐5 shows the largest amount of strong acid sites with ca 0.43 mmol g −1 . Catalytic tests indicated that furfuryl alcohol is a more effective starting reagent for this process than furfural. When an aqueous solution of furfuryl alcohol (5 wt%) was used, 5Cu5Ni/H‐Beta exhibited 67% selectivity for cyclopentanone with almost 100% furfuryl alcohol conversion. Moreover, the 5Cu5Ni/H‐Beta catalyst exhibited good reusability. CONCLUSION Supports with moderately acidic sites and fewer strongly acidic sites (MCM‐41, MCM‐22, USY‐6 and H‐Beta) favored the tandem synthesis of cyclopentanone from furfuryl alcohol. © 2025 Society of Chemical Industry (SCI).