Selective production of levulinic acid from furfuryl alcohol over acid-modified zeolite catalysts

Identifier:  imarina:9452248

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/imarina9452248

Authors:  Fuentes-Rodriguez, Laura; Le Corre, Adrien; Cesteros, Yolanda

Abstract:
Commercial zeolites (Na-ZSM-5, NH4-beta eta, and Na-mordenite) were protonated, and sulfonic-acid functionalized through microwave-assisted methods to be applied as acid catalysts for the selective production of levulinic acid from furfuryl alcohol using acetone-water mixture as greener solvent. Sulfonated zeolites enhanced levulinic acid formation due to their higher amount of more accessible Br & Oslash;nsted acid sites. The different zeolite structure of the catalysts clearly affected the accessibility of the reagents to the acid sites, especially for the one-dimensional Hmordenite catalyst, which showed null selectivity to levulinic acid. Interestingly, this effect was in part overcome by the sulfonic-acid functionalization of mordenite increasing considerably its selectivity to levulinic acid up to 40 %. This means that sulfonation mainly occurred on the external zeolite surface. Sulfonated beta eta catalyst showed the highest selectivity to levulinic acid (76 %) for a complete conversion while H-beta eta had higher reuse stability since deactivating products adsorbed during reaction can be eliminated by calcination.