Study On Catalysts For Vapor Phase Hydrogenation Of Furfural To Furfuryl Alcohol

Furfural alcohol is an important material in the chemical engineering. There are twoways to produce furfuryl alcohol through hydrogenation. One is liquid phase hydrogenation,another is vapor phase hydrogenation. The liquid phase hydrogenation has somedisadvantages, such as high energy consumption, difficult separation of catalyst and highrequirements for reaction equipment. So it is current that the vapor phase hydrogenationreplaces liquid phase hydrogenation of furfural.In this thesis, supported CuO/SiO₂furfural hydrogenation catalysts were prepared bysol-gel method. The effect of the activity and structure of catalysts on different precipitators,CuO contents, pH values and calcination temperatures were characterized by SEM, BET,XRD, TPR and N₂O adsorption-desorption. The results showed that Na₂CO₃was the suitableprecipitator. The best preparation conditions were determined as follow: adding citric acid ascocatalyst, CuO content was30wt%, citric acid content was5wt%, pH value was8.0±0.2,calcination temperature was450℃for4hours. In these conditions, we can get the bestperformance of furfural hydrogenation catalyst.The reaction conditions and catalyst stability were also investigated in the fixed-bedreactor. When the reaction temperature was180℃, H2/furfural （molar ratio） was5,atmospheric pressure and liquid hourly space velocity was1h-1, the furfural conversion andthe furfuryl alcohol selectivity were98%and99%. Catalyst deactivation was occurred after30hours of continuous work. The low activity catalyst can be regenerated by calining at450℃for4hours.