Journal
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING COMMUNICATIONS
Volume 208, Issue 11, Pages 1511-1522Publisher
TAYLOR & FRANCIS INC
DOI: 10.1080/00986445.2020.1791833
Keywords
gamma-valerolactone; levulinic acid; microwave; Pd/C; Pt/C; Ru/C
Categories
Funding
- Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), Taiwan [109-2636-E-005-003-]
- Innovation and Development Center of Sustainable Agriculture from The Featured Areas Research Center Program within Ministry of Education (MOE), Taiwan
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Microwave heating significantly enhances the efficiency of converting levulinic acid into gamma-valerolactone, with Ru/C and Pt/C catalysts performing better in the process. Elevated temperatures and secondary alcohols are favorable for the catalytic activity of Ru/C and Pt/C.
Conversion of levulinic acid (LA) to gamma-valerolactone (GVL) via catalytic transfer hydrogenation (CTH) using conventional heating (CH) involves long reaction times, and low yields. Microwave (MW) heating seems a solution to address these issues as MW accelerates reactions and enhances yields. In this study, three typical catalysts, Ru/C, Pt/C and Pd/C, are compared for LA conversion using MW heating. In comparison to CH processes, MW-assisted processes significantly enhance LA conversion to GVL with higher yields by Ru/C and Pt/C. While elevated temperatures and secondary alcohols are favorable for LA conversion by these catalysts, Ru/C appears as the most effective catalyst as it can reach LA conversion as 100%, selectivity of GVL as 99% and yield of GVL as 99% at 160 degrees C. The results of this study confirm that MW was a promising process for enhancing LA conversion and Ru/C shows the highest catalytic activity, followed by Pt/C and Pd/C.
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