One-pot sequential aldol condensation and hydrodeoxygenation of furfural and acetone to 1-octanol over multifunctional acid-based catalytic system.

Furfural and acetone are two of the most promising chemicals derived from lignocellulosic biomass. Coupling these two compounds expands the broad range of value-added chemicals that can be derived from biomass. In this study, 1-octanol, a promising medium chain-length alcohol, was produced from furfural and acetone through a series of reactions: aldol condensation (R1), hydrogenation (R2), and hydrogenolysis (R3).

Enhanced Hydrogenation of Levulinic Acid over Ordered Mesoporous Alumina-Supported Catalysts: Elucidating the Effect of Fabrication Strategy.

In this work, three types of alumina-supported bimetallic Ni-Cu catalysts [Ni-Cu/commercial non-ordered mesoporous alumina (CMA), Ni-Cu/ordered MA (OMA), and Ni-Cu-OMA] were prepared via different fabrication strategies and investigated in the conversion of levulinic acid (LA) into γ-valerolactone and 2-methyltetrahydrofuran (2-MTHF). This study employed characterization techniques and reactions to reveal the effects of the fabrication strategy on the activities of the catalysts. It was observed that the catalysts constructed on OM supports (Ni-Cu/OMA and Ni-Cu-OMA) displayed superior catalytic performance compared to those constructed on CM supports (Ni-Cu/CMA).