Ni-Cu bimetallic catalytic system for producing 5-hydroxymethylfurfural-derived value-added biofuels

Abstract

Biorefineries can be a good alternative to cover the current needs of energy, such as transportation fuels and also fine chemicals. 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) can be obtained directly from biomass, and it is considered one of the most promising intermediate for the synthesis of biofuels. In this work the production of 2,5-dimethylfuran (DMF) and 2,5-dimethyltetrahydrofuran (DMTHF), two particularly attractive compounds to be used as biofuels due to its similar characteristics to gasoline, has been studied. For this purpose, a continuous fixed bed catalytic reactor was employed using HMF as raw material. Zr-supported Cu, CeeCu, RueCu and NieCu catalysts were tested. Moreover, the catalysts textural properties were also measured - before and after the activity tesst - in order to get a deeper understanding of the relationships among the measured DMF yields and the catalyst characteristics. Final DMF, DMTHF and butanol separation was also evaluated.