Highly stable and selective Ru/NiFe2O4 catalysts for transfer hydrogenation of biomass-derived furfural to 2-methylfuran

摘要

Spinel ferrites NiFe2O4 supported Ru catalysts have been prepared via a simple sol-gel route and applied for converting biomass-derived furfural to 2-methylfuran,The as-prepared catalysts were characterized by thermogravimetric analysis (TG),N2 adsorption-desorption,X-ray diffraction (XRD),scanning electronic microscopy (SEM),and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS).Results showed that the catalysts had well-dispersed Ru active sites and large surface area for calcination temperature ranging from 300 to 500℃.The conversion of biomass-derived furfural into 2-methylfuran was conducted over Ru/NiFe2O4 through catalytic transfer hydrogenation in liquid-phase with 2-propanol as the hydrogen source.A significantly enhanced activity and increased 2-methylfuran yield have been achieved in this study.Under mild conditions (180 ℃ and 2.1 MPa N2),the conversion of furfural exceeds 97％ and 2-methylfuran yield was up to 83％ over the catalyst containing 8 wt％ Ru.After five repeated uses,the catalytic activity and the corresponding product yield remained almost unchanged.The excellent catalytic activity and recycling performance provide a broad prospects for various practical applications.