Doping Pd/SiO2 with Na+: changing the reductive etherification of C=O to furan ring hydrogenation of furfural in ethanol

The production of biofuels and chemicals by hydrogenation of furfural has attracted much attention recently. Herein the effect of Na+ doping on the catalytic performance of Pd/SiO2 in hydrogenation and reductive-etherification of furfural in ethanol was systematically studied. Two Pd/SiO2 catalysts with and without the modification by Na+ were prepared by impregnation and calcination. Their catalytic properties were compared for the hydrogenation of furfural and furfural diethyl acetal under mild conditions. The silanol groups on Pd/SiO2 catalysed the acetalization of furfural and alcohol and the resulted acetal underwent hydrogenolysis on Pd nanoparticles (NPs) with an average particle size of 8 nm, leading to a moderate yield (similar to 58%) of furfuryl ethyl ether. Doping Na+ on Pd/SiO2 led to the diminishing of silanol groups as well as strong interaction between Na+ and Pd NPs. No acetalization occurred on Na+ modified Pd/SiO2 due to the exchange of H+ of Si-OH with Na+, thus the reductive etherification of C=O group in furfural was completely inhibited. Meanwhile the hydrogenation of furan-ring over Na+ coordinated Pd NPs could proceed with very high selectivity (> 90%) forming tetrahydrofurfural in high yield. Kinetics study on the hydrogenation of furfural diethyl acetal over Pd/SiO2 and Na+ doped Pd/SiO2 suggested that the Na+ greatly impeded the hydrogenolysis of C-O-C bond of acetal, while the hydrogenation of the furan ring took place selectively.