Vapor Phase Decarbonylation of Furfural to Furan over Nickel Supported on SBA-15 Silica Catalysts

Abstract

Vapor-phase transformations of furfural over SBA-15 silica supported Ni catalysts under H 2 in a continuous-flow reactor at atmospheric pressure and 170˚C and 230˚C were investigated. Two different samples having Ni loadings of 5 and 20 wt% (denoted here by SBA-5Ni and SBA-20Ni, respectively) were prepared by impregnation and characterized by atomic absorption spectros-copy, N 2 sorption analysis, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. Furan and furfuryl alcohol were two primary products resulting, respectively , from decarbonylation and hydrogenation of furfural. Under the conditions of the study, both reactions exhibited structure sensitivity evidenced by changes in product selectivities with variable Ni loadings. Compared with SBA-20Ni, the 5 wt% Ni catalyst showed better catalytic activity, reaching a furfural conversion of 100 mol% and a selectivity to furan of 98 mol%, after 5 h of time-on-stream at 230˚C.