An Effective and Stable HfP/SiO.sub.2 Catalyst for the Production of Furfural from Xylan

• Published in: Catalysis letters Vol. 150; no. 4; pp. 1121 - 1127
• Main Authors: Xu, Siquan, Wu, Ningxin, Yuan, Hui, Chen, Yuan, Pan, Donghui, Wu, Yuanfeng, Fan, Jingdeng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Springer 01.04.2020
• Subjects: Catalysts
• ISSN: 1011-372X; 1572-879X
• DOI: 10.1007/s10562-019-02994-2

Silica-supported hafinum phosphide (HfP/SiO.sub.2) was prepared and applied as an effective solid acid catalyst to drive furfural production from xylan. Various characterizations were employed to analyze the intrinsic properties of the HfP/SiO.sub.2 catalyst, and the effects of process parameters on its performance were investigated in detail. The results showed that the performance of the HfP/SiO.sub.2 catalyst was excellent, which allowed up to 85% of the furfural yield to be achieved at 180 °C for 60 min in the water.sub.(NaCl)/THF biphasic system. There was no significant decrease in the performance of the HfP/SiO.sub.2 catalyst after seven consecutive cycles. Characterization analysis of the recovered catalyst revealed that its elemental composition and total acidity were maintained, indicating the desired hydrothermal stability of the HfP/SiO.sub.2 catalyst. In addition, by-products produced during xylan conversion were identified as humins and soluble molecular fragments or polymers.