(508e) Conversion of Furfural Over Supported Metal Catalysts

The conversion of furfural was studied over silica-supported Cu and Pd catalysts. The results showed that Cu is highly selective for the hydrogenation of furfural to furfuryl alcohol, with 2-methyl furan only appearing at high temperatures. In contrast, Pd is highly active for decarbonylation yielding furan as the dominant product.  This contrasting behavior indicates that the reaction pathways and product selectivities may strongly depend on the nature of the metal, which opens an opportunity for molecular engineering of biofuels based on specific catalyst selection. However, the exact reaction pathways by which the oxygenated molecules are converted on difference metal surfaces are not fully understood. In this work, kinetics, DFT (density functional theory) and DRIFTS studies have been combined to identify the adsorbed species on difference metal surfaces and propose possible reaction pathways.  Based on this knowledge, tailored metal surfaces have been developed taking into consideration the relative stabilities of the surface-bounded reaction intermediates to achieve the desired product.