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Hydrothermal carbon-supported Ni catalysts for selective hydrogenation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural toward tunable products

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Abstract

5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), as one of the most important renewable platform-chemicals, is a valuable precursor for the synthesis of biofuels and bio-products. In this work, hydrothermal carbon (HC), with a large specific surface area and plenty of oxygen-containing functional groups, was derived from sucrose via a hydrothermal method, which could facilitate the dispersion and anchoring of Ni. The selectivities to 2,5-bis(hydroxymethyl)furan (BHMF), 2,5-dimethyltetrahydrofuran (DMTHF), and 2,5-dimethylfuran (DMF) were tuned by modulating Ni nanoparticle sizes and Ni/NiO ratios. The yield of BHMF can reach 88% with its selectivity up to 94% on the reduced 10%-Ni/HC catalyst with big Ni particle size; while the total yield of DMF + DMTHF is up to 94.6% at full HMF conversion on the calcined 5%-Ni/HC catalyst with small Ni particle sizes and balanced Ni/NiO ratios; for the calcined Ni/HC catalysts, the synergistic effect between Ni(0), favoring H2 activation and hydrogenation, and NiO, facilitating the hydrogenolysis of C–O bonds, could promote the selective hydrogenolysis of HMF to biofuel production (DMF and DMTHF).

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21908164 and 21576211) and Tianjin Natural Science Foundation (No. 18JCQNJC06600), Tianjin 131 Research Team of Innovative Talents and Tianjin Innovative Research Team in Universities (No. TD13-5031).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Separation Membranes and Membrane Processes, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Green Chemical Technology and Process Engineering, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Tiangong University, Tianjin, 300387, China

    Zhaonan Zhang, Chengwei Liu, Dan Liu, Yaning Shang, Xianqiang Yin, Peng Zhang & Jianzhou Gui

  2. Nanotechnology and Water Sustainability Research Unit, College of Science, Engineering and Technology, University of South Africa, Florida Science Campus, Florida, 1710, South Africa

    Dan Liu, Bhekie B. Mamba, Alex T. Kuvarega & Jianzhou Gui

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  1. Zhaonan Zhang
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  2. Chengwei Liu
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Correspondence to Dan Liu or Jianzhou Gui.

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Zhang, Z., Liu, C., Liu, D. et al. Hydrothermal carbon-supported Ni catalysts for selective hydrogenation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural toward tunable products. J Mater Sci 55, 14179–14196 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-020-05052-0

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