Liquid-Phase Selective Hydrogenation of Furfural to Furfuryl Alcohol over Ferromagnetic Element (Fe, Co, Ni, Nd)-Promoted Pt Catalysts Supported on Activated Carbon

Ferromagnetic element (x = Fe, Co, Ni, and Nd)-promoted Pt/AC catalysts were prepared by co-impregnation method or physical mixing and tested in the liquid-phase hydrogenation of furfural to furfuryl alcohol (FA) under mild conditions (50 degrees C and 20 bar H-2) using water and methanol as the solvent. Among the various catalysts studied, the 0.15FePt/AC exhibited complete conversion of furfural with an FA selectivity of 74% after only 1 h of reaction time in water. The promotional effect of the bimetallic catalysts became less pronounced when methanol was used as the solvent and a 2-furaldehyde dimethyl acetal solvent product was formed. The superior catalyst performances were correlated with the higher Pt dispersion, the presence of low coordination Pt sites, and the strong Pt-Fe interaction as characterized by X-ray diffraction, H-2 temperature-programmed reduction (H-2-TPR), N-2 physisorption, and infrared spectroscopy of the adsorbed CO (CO-IR). However, to simply use a magnet for catalyst separation, 0.5 wt% Fe was the minimum Fe loading on the Pt/AC. The 0.5FePt/AC still exhibited good magnetic properties after the third consecutive runs.

Automated summary

Ferromagnetic element-promoted Pt/AC catalysts were tested in the liquid-phase hydrogenation of furfural. The results showed that 0.15FePt/AC catalyst exhibited good catalytic performance, which was attributed to the higher Pt dispersion, the presence of low coordination Pt sites, and the strong Pt-Fe interaction.