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Transfer hydrogenation of levulinic acid to γ-valerolactone over acid site-modified CuNi alloy

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Abstract

In the process of converting biomass into high value-added chemicals, transfer hydrogenation as a mild hydrogenation method has attracted more and more attention. The catalysts with hydrogenation sites (nano CuNi alloy) and acid sites (Al oxide) highly dispersed on the surface of a stable support (active carbon) were prepared and the importance of acid sites for the activity of CuNi catalysts in transfer hydrogenation was demonstrated. The catalysts showed promising catalytic activity on the transfer hydrogenation of levulinic acid (LA) to γ-valerolactone (GVL). The CuNi-1Al/AC with 5 wt.% CuNi alloy and 5 wt.% Al got 97.2% GVL yield and 100% LA conversion at 220 ℃ in isopropanol for 2 h. The high activity of the catalyst is attributed to the promoted esterification by the supported acid sites. The Al-modified catalyst also showed activity for esterification reaction in different alcohol hydrogen donors. The catalyst occurs inactive during the cycle due to the shedding of the active components, and the stability of catalyst is effectively improved by a stepwise impregnation.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the School of Chemical Engineering and the Institute of New Energy and Low-Carbon Technology of Sichuan University for providing the characterization of XRD, SEM, and BET.

Funding

This work was supported by the Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21808148), Lishui Key Research Project (2021ZDYF01), the Cooperation Fund of Sichuan University and The People’s Government of Yibin City (No. 2020CDYB-34), and Sichuan Science and Technology Program (2020YFG0314).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of New Energy and Low-Carbon Technology, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610207, China

    Nanxi Yu, Houfang Lu, Yingying Liu, Kejing Wu & Bin Liang

  2. School of Chemical Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610065, China

    Houfang Lu, Wei Yang, Yuxin Zheng & Bin Liang

  3. Ecology School, Lishui University, Zhejiang Province, Lishui, 32300, China

    Qiang Hu

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  1. Nanxi Yu
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  2. Houfang Lu
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  3. Wei Yang
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  4. Yuxin Zheng
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  5. Qiang Hu
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  6. Yingying Liu
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Contributions

Nanxi Yu: writing the manuscript. Wei Yang: involved in the preparation of the catalyst. Yuxin Zheng: involved in the preparation of the catalyst. Kejing Wu: have characterized some of the data. Qiang Hu: provided partial revision of the manuscript. Yingying Liu: have characterized some of the data. Houfang Lu: provided critical revision of the manuscript. Bin Liang: provided critical revision of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Kejing Wu.

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Yu, N., Lu, H., Yang, W. et al. Transfer hydrogenation of levulinic acid to γ-valerolactone over acid site-modified CuNi alloy. Biomass Conv. Bioref. 14, 8271–8282 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-022-02887-2

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