Tunable selectivity of Ni catalysts in the hydrogenation reaction of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural in aqueous media: Role of the carbon supports
Morales Vargas, José M. Conesa, A. Guerrero-Ruı́z, I. Rodrı́guez-Ramos
Abstract
In addition to the nature of the solvent, the intrinsic metal properties and degree of dispersion, the selective hydrogenation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) has been reported to be greatly affected by the nature of the support. In this work, four Ni catalysts were prepared starting from different carbonaceous supports ─with diverse graphitic and porous structure─ and comparatively evaluated in the hydrogenation reaction of HMF. The reaction was conducted in a batch stirred reactor under 30 bar H 2 pressure at 60 °C in aqueous media. Ni supported on a commercial silica and Raney Ni were also tested for reference purposes. We found that carbon supports limit in some extent the reactivity of Ni towards C C hydrogenation, offering higher selectivity to the carbonyl hydrogenated compound, 2,5-di-hydroxymethylfuran (DHMF), in detrimental to the total hydrogenated derivative, 2,5-di-hydroxymethyl-tetrahydrofuran (DHMTHF). However, the latter was the major product over Raney Ni and Ni/SiO 2 . The unusual catalytic performance of our Ni/carbon catalysts was related to the composition , structural and surface properties. Among all tested Ni/carbon catalysts, Ni over the commercial high surface area graphite (HSAG) exhibited the best catalytic behaviour in terms of DHMF selectivity (90%) and intrinsic catalytic activity. Furthermore, Ni/HSAG displayed satisfactory stability after three consecutive runs.