Catalytic Upgrading Of Biomass-derived Furanic Compounds Over Nitrogen-doped Carbon Supported Iron Heterogeneous Catalysts

Since biomass is a promising feedstock for the renewable liquid fuels and chemicals,sustainable biomass has received significant attention in recent years.Catalytic upgrading of furfurals?furfural,5-hydroxymethylfurfural?in biomass transformation is an important step in achieving end products.Nitrogen-doped carbon supported iron heterogeneous catalysts were prepared in this work,for the catalytic transfer hydrogenation?CTH?of furfural to furfuryl alcohol and the hydrodeoxygenation?HDO?of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural?HMF?to 2,5-dimethylfuran?DMF?,obtaining high conversion and selectivity.Under the optimal reaction condition,the highest selectivity of furfuryl alcohol reached 83.0%with a furfural conversion of91.6%and complete conversion of HMF was achieved with an 86.2%selectivity of DMF.Catalyst prepared by the pyrolysis of iron-phenanthroline complex on activated carbon at 800 ^oC was demonstrated to be the most active heterogeneous iron catalyst.Effects of metal precursor,nitrogen precursor,pyrolysis temperature and support on catalytic performance have been examined thoroughly,and a comprehensive study of the reaction parameters has also been performed.Based on the investigations,the reaction pathways for the CTH of furfural to furfuryl alcohol and the HDO of HMF to DMF were proposed for the present Fe based catalyst system.The properties of heterogeneous iron catalysts were investigated by XPS,XRD,BET,ICP-AES,TEM and H₂-TPR.The reuse of the catalyst was studied in both reactions,and the excellent stability of the iron catalyst was demonstrated in the presence of H₂.