Hydrogenation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural into 2,5-bis (hydroxymethyl)furan over mesoporous Cu-Al2O3 catalyst: From batch to continuous processing

Biomass-derived monomers have received growing attention from sustainable polymer industry. Particularly, diol compounds can be formed from furfural (FAL) and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF). Herein, the mesoporous Cu-Al2O3 catalyst (meso-CuA) prepared by solvent-deficient precipitation was evaluated to be efficient in selective hydrogenation of FAL and HMF to furfuryl alcohol to 2,5-bis (hydroxymethyl)furan (BHMF), respectively, at temperatures of lower than 100 degrees C and high H-2 pressures. Owing to unique pore structure and small-sized copper nanoparticles entangled with alumina, meso-CuA turned out to be superior to other supported Cu catalysts in the hydrogenation of HMF to BHMF. Moreover, meso-CuA showed highly durable performance at the BHMF yield of higher than 90% at 100 degrees C, 50 bar H-2, and weight hourly space velocity of 0.2 h(-1) over time-on-stream of 100 h. The stability was also confirmed with the HMF feed containing 1 wt% of water that proved to have more considerable effect than other possible impurities. Centering around a catalytic reactor packed with meso-CuA, a process scheme from HMF feed to pure BHMF solid was developed at a production scale of 100 kg per day. The present results can contribute to designing commercial process of BHMF production from HMF and further, real biomass. (C) 2021 The Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The mesoporous Cu-Al2O3 catalyst showed efficient and stable performance in the selective hydrogenation of FAL and HMF to furfuryl alcohol and BHMF, respectively. The results provide valuable information for the sustainable polymer industry and commercial BHMF production from HMF.