Data for: Characterization of catalysts supported on alumina for acetalization of biomass-derived furfural with ethanol
Description
Biomass-derived furfural has been considered an excellent platform molecule, which can be converted into valuable products to the biorefinery industry. Accordingly, acetalization of furfural is key route toward a variety of chemicals and biofuels, such as furfural diethyl acetal and heterogeneous catalyst plays a central role in this reaction. In this paper, mono and bimetallic catalyst of Rh, Pt and Ni supported on alumina were synthesized in aqueous solution varying the proportion of each active metal between 1 and 3 wt%. These catalysts were tested for the selective acetalization of furfural in a mixture containing furfural diluted in ethanol. The effect of reaction parameters, such as the catalyst loading, reaction temperature, and furfural/ethanol molar ratio on the furfural conversion were assay. The characterization of catalysts by Brunauer- Emmett-Teller, Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) of the fresh, used and reused catalysts were investigated in detail and a possible synthesis mechanism of acetalization of FFR was discussed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Furfural conversion of 85% and product selectivity of 100% were attained under the optimized reaction conditions: time of 30 min, temperature of 100 °C, catalyst loading of 3 wt % (1.5%Ni-1.5%Rh), and furfural/ethanol ratio of 1:100. The catalyst was also successfully applied to the acetalization of various biomass-derivatives with ethanol.