Exploring the hydrogenation of furfural in the liquid phase by high-throughput screening of commercial catalysts: Effects of temperature, solvents, and promoters on the production of 2-methylfuran

2-methylfuran from the hydrogenation of furfural could be a viable green route to get synthetic gasoline or to be used as a blending fuel. However, it is currently produced as a by-product during the gas phase production of furfuryl alcohol using Cu catalysts, pre-senting fairly low productivities, while due to the complexity of the reaction, other more active metals lead mostly to by-products. Recently, solvents and promoters have been demonstrated to be useful for tuning the kinetics of the reaction. Here, to speed up the industrialization of 2-methylfuran, 48 commercial catalysts, involving the use of Cu, Ni, Co, Ir, Pt, Pd, Rh, Ru, and Re on several supports and different metallic loadings, were tested employing a high-throughput approach in the liquid phase at 60, 120 and 180 & DEG;C, using ethyl acetate, chlorobenzene, ethyl acetate, n-heptane and two mixed solvents in-volving a 0.5 w.t. % CHCl3/n-heptane and a 20 w.t. % isopropanol/n-heptane mixture. Among the selected catalysts, the top performing ones, in order of importance, were Ir/C, allowing up to 89 % 2-methylfuran yields, followed by Ni/Al2O3 in the presence of chlorine as a promoter, and Cu/ZnO/Al2O3. Besides relations between the achieved yields, active metal loadings, and support effects, useful correlations have been investigated between activity, selectivity, and solvents polarity. & COPY; 2023 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

A high-throughput approach was used to test the performance of 48 commercial catalysts in the liquid phase for the industrialization of 2-methylfuran. Ir/C, Ni/Al2O3, and Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 catalysts showed high yields and selectivity.