One-Pot Hydrogenation of Furfural into Tetrahydrofurfuryl Alcohol under Ambient Conditions over PtNi Alloy Catalyst

Furfural (FAL), a promising renewable platform compound from biomass, can be totally hydrogenated to an industrially important platform chemical, tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol (THFA). In this work, a high yield of THFA was obtained by one-pot hydrogenation of FAL over a PtNi catalyst under mild reaction conditions. Small PtNi alloy particles were well distributed on active carbon. The catalysts were characterized by several physical-chemical technologies (transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, energy-dispersive spectroscopy, and inductively coupled plasma spectroscopy). Temperature-programmed reduction with hydrogen and in situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy demonstrate the presence of PtNi alloy. The electron-rich metal Pt could facilitate the heterolytic dissociation of hydrogen and promote the hydrogenation of FAL. Pt sites on the surface facilitate the adsorption at aldehyde (C=O) groups, and the furan ring strongly adsorbs on the Ni surface. Low reaction temperature is advantageous to reduce side reactions. Various metal concentrations were employed in this reaction; Pt(3)Ni(3)/C catalyst exhibits the best performance, achieving 99% FAL conversion and 93% THFA yield at 35 degrees C and under 2 MPa H-2.