A novel Ru–polyethersulfone (PES) catalytic membrane for highly efficient and selective hydrogenation of furfural to furfuryl alcohol

A novel catalytic membrane has been synthesised, characterised and evaluated for the selective hydrogenation of furfural to furfuryl alcohol. Unlike conventional methods, involving high pressure and high H 2  : feed ratios, this work proposes an innovative ruthenium based Catalytic Membrane Reactor...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of materials chemistry. A, Materials for energy and sustainability Vol. 6; no. 12; pp. 4955 - 4965
Main Authors Bagnato, G., Figoli, A., Ursino, C., Galiano, F., Sanna, A.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Cambridge Royal Society of Chemistry 2018
Subjects
Acrylic acid
Alcohol
Alcohols
Catalysis
Catalytic activity
Chemical synthesis
Frequency dependence
Furfural
Furfuryl alcohol
High pressure
Hydrogenation
Mass transfer
Membrane reactors
Nanoparticles
Polyethersulfones
Reactors
Ruthenium
Selectivity
Ultraviolet radiation
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Summary:A novel catalytic membrane has been synthesised, characterised and evaluated for the selective hydrogenation of furfural to furfuryl alcohol. Unlike conventional methods, involving high pressure and high H 2  : feed ratios, this work proposes an innovative ruthenium based Catalytic Membrane Reactor (CMR) to overcome mass transfer limitations, resulting in low H 2 requirements, high catalytic activity and high selectivity towards furfuryl alcohol. A UV-curable hydrophilic anionic monomer acrylic acid was used as a coating material on a commercial PES membrane and subsequently Ru nanoparticles were added. The hydrogenation of furfural was carried out in a customised catalytic membrane reactor under mild conditions: 70 °C and 7 bar, exhibiting high catalytic activity towards furfuryl alcohol (selectivity >99%) with turnover frequency (TOF) as high as 48 000 h −1 , 2 orders of magnitude higher than those obtained so far.
ISSN:2050-7488
2050-7496
DOI:10.1039/C7TA10575D