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Mesoporous SBA-15 supported Ru nanoparticles for effective hydrogenation of ethyl levulinate at room temperature

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Abstract

Mesoporous materials have found wide application as catalyst supports. In this study, we have shown that Ru nanoparticles supported on SBA-15 are highly active toward hydrogenation of biomass-derived ethyl levulinate (EL) even at room temperature. A series of Ru loaded SBA-15 (xRu-SBA-15, x = 1, 3, and 5 wt% Ru) were prepared by a deposition-precipitation method and further reduced with NaBH4. TEM images suggest that the reduction with NaBH4 led to the formation of Ru particle with size in range of 1–2 nm. These finely distributed Ru nanoparticles on SBA-15 showed high activity for hydrogenation of C=O group of EL at room temperature and a low H2 pressure (0.5 MPa), with ethyl hydroxylpentanonate (EHP) selectivity of 97%. Kinetics study showed that the Ru nanoparticles in proper size (2.1 ± 0.1 nm) gave a low apparent activation energy (Ea) about 20 kJ/mol for C=O hydrogenation. Moreover, 3Ru-SBA-15 displayed a good reusability, on which the EL conversion remained stable (− 80%) after five recycles. The produced EHP could be further converted to γ-valerolactone (GVL) over HZMS-5 efficiently upon thermal treatment.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (13ZR1417900), the Scientific Research Foundation for the Returned Overseas Chinese Scholars, State Education Ministry.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Mathematics and Physics, Shanghai University of Electric Power, Changyang Road 2588, Shanghai, 200090, China

    Jie Yang & Yongshiling Hu

  2. Shanghai Key Laboratory of Green Chemistry and Chemical Processes, School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China Normal University, North Zhongshan Road 3663, Shanghai, 200062, China

    Qi Yang & Yejun Guan

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  1. Jie Yang
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  2. Yongshiling Hu
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  4. Yejun Guan
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JY and YG designed the study. YH performed the catalyst preparation and characterization. QY performed the hydrogenation tests. JY and YG wrote the paper with input from all authors. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Jie Yang or Yejun Guan.

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Yang, J., Hu, Y., Yang, Q. et al. Mesoporous SBA-15 supported Ru nanoparticles for effective hydrogenation of ethyl levulinate at room temperature. J Porous Mater 31, 727–736 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10934-023-01547-8

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