Influence of Highly Stable Ni2+ Species in Ni Phyllosilicate Catalysts on Selective Hydrogenation of Furfural to Furfuryl Alcohol

Sasithorn Kuhaudomlap; Okorn Mekasuwandumrong; Piyasan Praserthdam; Kiat Moon Lee; Christopher W Jones; Joongjai Panpranot

doi:10.1021/acsomega.2c03590

Influence of Highly Stable Ni²⁺ Species in Ni Phyllosilicate Catalysts on Selective Hydrogenation of Furfural to Furfuryl Alcohol

ACS Omega. 2022 Sep 8;8(1):249-261. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.2c03590. eCollection 2023 Jan 10.

Authors

Sasithorn Kuhaudomlap^{1

2}, Okorn Mekasuwandumrong³, Piyasan Praserthdam¹, Kiat Moon Lee⁴, Christopher W Jones², Joongjai Panpranot^{1

4

5}

Affiliations

¹ Center of Excellence on Catalysis and Catalytic Reaction Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand.
² School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, United States.
³ Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Industrial Technology, Silpakorn University, Nakhon Pathom 73000, Thailand.
⁴ Department of Chemical & Petroleum Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Technology and Built Environment, UCSI University, 56000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
⁵ Bio-Circular-Green-Economy Technology & Engineering Center, BCGeTEC, Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand.

Abstract

Enhancing the catalytic performance of non-noble Ni catalysts in the selective hydrogenation of furfural to furfuryl alcohol (FA) in terms of furfural conversion, selectivity, and good recyclability is challenging. Here, spherical nickel phyllosilicate catalysts (Ni_PS) with fibrous-like structures are prepared via a modified sol-gel method with Ni loadings of 2-30 wt %. Upon exposure to air, all the reduced Ni_PS catalysts exhibit more than 80% Ni⁰/Ni_{phyllosilicate} species on the surface, whereas a large portion of Ni oxide species (>55%) is presented on the impregnated catalyst. The Ni²⁺ species in nickel phyllosilicate catalysts are active and highly stable during reduction, reaction, and regeneration, yielding stable catalytic performance for multiple recycle tests in furfural hydrogenation to FA. Furfural conversion over the Ni_PS catalysts increased monotonically with increasing Ni loading without an FA selectivity drop. The presence of both metallic Ni⁰ and Ni_{phyllosilicate} also produces a synergistic promotional effect for FA formation.