Chinese Journal of Catalysis ›› 2015, Vol. 36 ›› Issue (9): 1512-1518.DOI: 10.1016/S1872-2067(15)60934-2

• Communications • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Magnetic Co/Al2O3 catalyst derived from hydrotalcite for hydrogenation of levulinic acid to γ-valerolactone

Xiangdong Long, Peng Sun, Zelong Li, Rui Lang, Chungu Xia, Fuwei Li   

  1. State Key Laboratory for Oxo Synthesis and Selective Oxidation, Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, Gansu, China
  • Received:2015-03-31 Revised:2015-06-05 Online:2015-08-28 Published:2015-09-26
  • Supported by:

    This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21133011, 21373246), Hundred-Talent Programme of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Abstract:

The efficient hydrogenation of levulinic acid (LA) to γ-valerolactone (GVL) over a hydrotalcite-derived non-precious metal Co/Al2O3 catalyst was achieved. Its core-shell structure and a strong interaction between Co and Al species stabilized the Co particles against leaching and sintering. This magnetic non-precious metal catalyst showed a comparable catalytic performance to a commercial Ru/C for the liquid hydrogenation of LA. It was easily separated from the reaction medium with an external magnet. The catalyst exhibited excellent recyclability, complete LA conversion and >99% GVL selectivity, and would be useful in a large scale biorefinery.

Key words: Biomass conversion, Levulinic acid, γ-Valerolactone, Stable base metal catalyst, Core-shell structure, Cobalt