Conversion of biomass-derived levulinate esters to γ-valerolactone with a robust CuNi bimetallic catalyst

A high-performance Cu-Ni bimetallic catalyst supported on Zr-Al oxides was fabricated for catalyzing the transfer hydrogenation of levulinate esters to γ-valerolactone (GVL) under mild conditions. The Cu 2 Ni 1 /Zr 3 Al 7 O z catalyst provided the highest ethyl levulinate conversion of 99% with 96.8...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inNew journal of chemistry Vol. 44; no. 36; pp. 15671 - 15676
Main Authors Zhang, Shuai, Li, Jie, Shang, Ning-Zhao, Gao, Shu-Tao, Wang, Chun, Wang, Zhi
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Cambridge Royal Society of Chemistry 28.09.2020
Subjects
Aluminum
Bimetals
Butanol
Catalysts
Conversion
Copper
Esters
Hydrogen storage
Hydrogenation
Nickel
Reaction time
Selectivity
Zirconium oxides
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Summary:A high-performance Cu-Ni bimetallic catalyst supported on Zr-Al oxides was fabricated for catalyzing the transfer hydrogenation of levulinate esters to γ-valerolactone (GVL) under mild conditions. The Cu 2 Ni 1 /Zr 3 Al 7 O z catalyst provided the highest ethyl levulinate conversion of 99% with 96.8% GVL yield at 150 °C in 8 h employing 2-butyl alcohol (2-BuOH) as the hydrogen source. The catalyst was also used successfully for the catalytic transfer hydrogenation (CTH) of a series of levulinate esters. Moreover, the catalyst still retained high activity after recycling for 4 times. The outstanding catalytic performance and selectivity of Cu 2 Ni 1 /Zr 3 Al 7 O z , together with its low-cost nature, make it have great application potential as a catalyst for the fabrication of GVL on a large scale in industry. A high-performance Cu-Ni bimetallic catalyst supported on Zr-Al oxides was fabricated for catalyzing the transfer hydrogenation of levulinate esters to γ-valerolactone (GVL) under mild conditions.
Bibliography:1
2
10.1039/d0nj02874f
3
Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Chemicals and characterization apparatus, XRD and EDS of the materials, effect of reaction time and reaction temperature on the conversion of EL, repetitiveness of Cu
7
Zr
BET surface areas, base and acid strength of the prepared catalysts, and comparison with reported catalysts tested for the CTH toward GVL. See DOI
z
Ni
Al
O
ISSN:1144-0546
1369-9261
DOI:10.1039/d0nj02874f