Author(s)

Diana Vargas-Hernández^1*, Juan Miguel Rubio-Caballero², Ramon Moreno-Tost², Josefa María Mérida-Robles², José Santamaría-González², Antonio Jiménez-López², María Ana Pérez-Cruz³, Rosario Hernández-Huesca³, Pedro Maireles-Torres²

¹Catedrática CONACYT—Universidad de Sonora, Hermosillo, México.
²Departamento de Química Inorgánica, Cristalografía y Minerología (Unidad Asociada al ICP-CSIC), Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Málaga, Málaga, Spain.
³Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Puebla, México.

Vapor-phase transformations of furfural over SBA-15 silica supported Ni catalysts under H₂ 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 spectroscopy, N₂ 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.

Ni-SBA-15, Furfural, Hydrogenation, Furan, Furfuryl Alcohol

Vargas-Hernández, D. , Rubio-Caballero, J. , Moreno-Tost, R. , Mérida-Robles, J. , Santamaría-González, J. , Jiménez-López, A. , Pérez-Cruz, M. , Hernández-Huesca, R. and Maireles-Torres, P. (2016) Vapor Phase Decarbonylation of Furfural to Furan over Nickel Supported on SBA-15 Silica Catalysts. Modern Research in Catalysis, 5, 85-94. doi: 10.4236/mrc.2016.53008.