Ceria-Based Mixed Oxide Supported CuO: An Efficient Heterogeneous Catalyst for Conversion of Cellulose to Sorbitol

Bashir Ahmad Dar^1,2,3*, Sara Khalid², Tariq Ahmad Wani¹, Mushtaq Ahmad Mir³, Mazahar Farooqui³

¹Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (CSIR), Jammu, India.
²Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (CSIR), Hyderabad, India.
³Post Graduate and Research Center, Maulana Azad College, Aurangabad, India.

DOI: 10.4236/gsc.2015.51003                

Abstract

A series of CeO₂-Al₂O₃, CeO₂-TiO₂, CeO₂-ZrO₂, and CeO₂-SiO₂ mixed-oxide supported copper catalysts were prepared by a modified deposition-precipitation method from ultra dilute aqueous solutions and were investigated for hydrogenolysis of cellulose in aqueous medium, in the presence of hydrogen to produce sorbitol as major product. Among all the catalysts tested in the present work, CuO/CeO₂ZrO₂ catalyst proved to be the most promising with high conversion (92%) and excellent selectivity (sorbitol 99.1%), at an intermediate reaction temperature of 245°C in a neutral aqueous solution without an aid of liquid phase acid. The catalyst was recyclable in repeated runs and no deactivation was observed even after five reaction cycles. CuO/CeO₂-ZrO₂ has been characterized by XRD, SEM, TPR and BET surface area techniques.

Keywords

Biomass, Copper, Supported Catalyst, Hydrogenolysis, Sorbitol, Ceria

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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