Influence of support of CuNi bimetal catalysts in the hydrogenative rearrangement of furfuryl alcohol to cyclopentanone

BACKGROUND: The sustainable synthesis of cyclopentanone from biomass-derived furfural and/or furfuryl alcohol has attracted widespread attention in the carbon-neutral industry. In this study, we investigated the influence of support textural properties and acidity on the catalytic performance of supported CuNi alloy nanoparticles (5 wt%–5 wt%). RESULTS: CuNi alloy particles with a size of approximately 16 nm were obtained on SiO₂ and Al-containing siliceous materials (Al-MCM-41, MCM-22, USY-6, ZSM-5 and H-Beta). The number of total acid sites follows the trend of 5Cu5Ni/H-Beta (1.37 mmol g⁻¹) > 5Cu5Ni/ZSM-5 (1.03 mmol g⁻¹) > 5Cu5Ni/MCM-22 (0.87 mmol g⁻¹) > 5Cu5Ni/USY-6 (0.70 mmol g⁻¹) > 5Cu5Ni/Al₂O₃ (0.35 mmol g⁻¹) > 5Cu5Ni/SiO₂ (0.24 mmol g⁻¹). 5Cu5Ni/ZSM-5 shows the largest amount of strong acid sites with ca 0.43 mmol g⁻¹. Catalytic tests indicated that furfuryl alcohol is a more effective starting reagent for this process than furfural. When an aqueous solution of furfuryl alcohol (5 wt%) was used, 5Cu5Ni/H-Beta exhibited 67% selectivity for cyclopentanone with almost 100% furfuryl alcohol conversion. Moreover, the 5Cu5Ni/H-Beta catalyst exhibited good reusability. CONCLUSION: Supports with moderately acidic sites and fewer strongly acidic sites (MCM-41, MCM-22, USY-6 and H-Beta) favored the tandem synthesis of cyclopentanone from furfuryl alcohol.