Highly selective hydrogenation of furfural over supported Pt nanoparticles under mild conditions

Martin J. Taylor, Lee J. Durndell, Mark A. Isaacs, Christopher M.A. Parlett, Karen Wilson, Adam F. Lee, Georgios Kyriakou*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The selective liquid phase hydrogenation of furfural to furfuryl alcohol over Pt nanoparticles supported on SiO2, ZnO, γ-Al2O3, CeO2 is reported under extremely mild conditions. Ambient hydrogen pressure, and temperatures as low as 50 °C are shown sufficient to drive furfural hydrogenation with high conversion and >99% selectivity to furfuryl alcohol. Strong support and solvent dependencies are observed, with methanol and n-butanol proving excellent solvents for promoting high furfuryl alcohol yields over uniformly dispersed 4 nm Pt nanoparticles over MgO, CeO2 and γ-Al2O3. In contrast, non-polar solvents conferred poor furfural conversion, while ethanol favored acetal by-product formation. Furfural selective hydrogenation can be tuned through controlling the oxide support, reaction solvent and temperature.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)580-585
Number of pages6
JournalApplied Catalysis B: Environmental
Volume180
Early online date15 Jul 2015
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jan 2016

Bibliographical note

-

Keywords

  • ambient conditions
  • furfural
  • hydrogenation
  • platinum
  • supported catalysts

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Highly selective hydrogenation of furfural over supported Pt nanoparticles under mild conditions'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this