Highly Selective Catalytic Hydrogenation and Etherification of 5-Hydroxymethyl-2-furaldehyde for Valuable Chemical Production

Abstract

The transformation of lignocellulosic biomass-derived 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furaldehyde (HMF) to fuels and additives is of considerable interest for reducing the dependence on fossil fuels. This study presents an efficient process to produce 2,5-bis(alkoxymethyl)furan (BAMF) as a potential biodiesel. We have synthesized Ru(OH)x/ZrO2 catalyst for selective hydrogenation of HMF to 2,5-bis(hydroxylmethyl)furan (BHMF). Ru(OH)x/ZrO2 catalyst showed excellent performance of selective hydrogenation of HMFs aldehyde group to alcohol group under optimized condition. This reaction proceeded well in various n-alcohol solvents in more than 98 % yield. Moreover, the catalyst can be reused 5 times without significant loss of catalytic activity. The resulting solution of BHMF in various alcohol solvents was sequentially etherified to BAMF by Amberlyst-15 catalyst. From this two-step sequential reaction process, the valuable potential biodiesel chemical, BAMF, which has diverse alkoxy groups, can be obtained efficiently. The yields of BAMF were more than 70 % except for 2,5-bis(methoxymethyl)furan (BMMF) which gave 50 % yield.