Development of Ru-PEEK-WC catalytic membrane using a more sustainable solvent for stable hydrogenation reactions

As a promising technique for multiphase catalytic reactions, the widespread applications of gas-liquid-solid microreactors are still limited by poor durability. Hence, in this work a novel catalytic membrane was synthesised for carrying out the hydrogenation reaction of a bio-oil model compounds. A PEEK-WC membrane was obtained by VIPS/NIPS technique using a more sustainable solvent (Tamisolve (R) NxG), with subsequently surface solfanation and doped with Ru. The modified membrane was characterised with different techniques and subsequently tested for the model compounds hydrogenation under mild conditions, achieving 75% furfural conversion and 57.5% furfuryl alcohol selectivity at 85 degrees C and 18 bar, while only 33% vanillin was converted to vanillin alcohol. The TOF for furfural resulted comparable to that of previously tested catalysts in conventional reactors. The microreactor performed in a stable manner for about 90 h with less than 1% Ru leached out in solution, outperforming previously tested Ru-PES membrane.

Automated summary

This study successfully synthesized a novel catalytic membrane for hydrogenation reactions of bio-oil model compounds, achieving good conversion rates and selectivity under mild conditions. The modified membrane showed stable performance for about 90 hours with minimal leaching of Ru, outperforming previously tested membranes.