Selective Hydrogenation of Furfural over Cu-Co/MgO Catalyst: Effect of Cobalt Loading

The effect of concentration of cobalt as a promoter on the performance of impregnated Cu/MgO catalyst in the vapor-phase hydrogenation of furfural was investigated. The promoted catalysts with copper-to-cobalt weight ratios of 1 and 2 were applied in this study. Both promoted catalysts showed superior performances in term of activity compared to the non-promoted one such that the performance of catalyst with Cu/Co ratio of 2 was more remarkable (more than 75% conversion after 4 h of operation). However, the furfuryl alcohol selectivity of the promoted catalyst did not exhibit considerable changes with respect to the non-promoted one when the ratio of Cu to Co was 1 (above 98% during the 4-h run length). In contrast, when this ratio was increased, a negative impact was observed on furfuryl alcohol selectivity of the catalyst.

Keywords:

Furfural , Furfuryl alcohol , Hydrogenation , Cobalt , Copper , Impregnation