(693d) A High Selective Catalyst for Hydrogenation of 2-Methylfuran to 2-Methyltetrahydrofuran

2-Methyltetrahydrofuran (2-MTHF) is a kind of biomass fuel that can replace 60% of gasoline in motor engine. It can be produced by hydrogenation of 2-methylfuran (2-MF) with high selective catalyst. Traditional catalyst containing noble metal is expensive and thus limits its industrial application. Here, we report a non-noble metal catalyst-Ni/Al₂O₃ that performs a high selectivity for 2-MF hydrogenation. Ni is supported on a hierarchical meso-porous Al₂O₃ structure via impregnation method. It is reported that NiO is well dispersed on Al₂O₃ with surface area of 243m²/g. The 25% NiO loaded catalyst exhibits better catalytic performance (higher conversion and selectivity) than other proportions of NiO loading. This can attribute to the trade-off effect between catalytic center numerics and pore volume accessibility. For a reaction carried out at 3MPa and 150℃, 2-MF conversion rate and 2-MTHF selectivity can achieve 99.4% and 97.1% respectively, and this catalyst shows good stability for regeneration in 8 cycles.