Highly efficient CuNi–ZrO 2 nanocomposites for selective hydrogenation of levulinic acid to γ-valerolactone

• Published in: RSC advances Vol. 14; no. 38; pp. 27481 - 27487
• Main Authors: Ding, Yufang, Sun, Junli, Hu, Rongqi, He, Daiping, Qiu, Xulin, Luo, Chengying, Jiang, Ping
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 29.08.2024
• ISSN: 2046-2069; 2046-2069
• DOI: 10.1039/D4RA04960H

CuNi–ZrO 2 nanocomposites were prepared by a simple coprecipitation technique of copper, nickel and zirconium ions with potassium carbonate. The structures of the nanocomposites were characterized by N 2 physical adsorption, XRD, H 2 -TPR and STEM-EDS. The Cu 0.05 Ni 0.45 –ZrO 2 nanocomposite showed outstanding catalytic performance in hydrogenation of levulinic acid (LA) to γ-valerolactone (GVL), especially NaOH solution (0.5 mol L −1 ) as a solvent. 100% LA conversion and > 99.9% GVL selectivity are achieved over Cu 0.05 Ni 0.45 –ZrO 2 catalyst at 200 °C, 3 MPa for 1.5 h. Characterization results suggest that the excellent reactivity of the Cu 0.05 Ni 0.45 –ZrO 2 may be due to a better reducibility of nickel oxide in the CuONiO–ZrO 2 , dispersion of Ni in the Cu 0.05 Ni 0.45 –ZrO 2 compared to nickel oxide in the NiO–ZrO 2 and Ni in the Ni 0.5 –ZrO 2 and promotion of OH − . The results demonstrate that the Cu 0.05 Ni 0.45 –ZrO 2 nanocomposite has potential to realize high efficiency and low-cost synthesis of liquid fuels from biomass.