Selective hydrogenation of furfural to cyclopentanone over Cu-Ni-Al hydrotalcite-based catalysts

A series of Cu-Ni-Al hydrotalcites derived oxides with a (Cu+Ni)/Al mole ratio of 3 with varied Cu/Ni mole ratio (from 0.017 to 0.5, with a Cu ratio of 0.0125 to 0.25) were prepared by co-precipitation method, then applied to the hydrogenation of furfural in aqueous. Their catalytic performance for liquid phase hydrogenation of furfural to prepare cyclopentanone was described in detail, considering reaction temperature, catalyst composition, reaction time and so on. The yield of cyclopentanone was influenced by the mole ratio of Cu-Ni-Al based heterogeneous catalyst and depended on the reaction conditions. The yield of cyclopentanone was up to 95.8% when the reaction was carried out under 413 K with H-2 pressure of 40 bar for 8 h. The catalysts were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and H-2 temperature-programmed reduction (H-2-TPR).