Studio di catalizzatori a base di MgO drogati con Ta2O5 nella reazione di riduzione del furfurale

Over the past decade, a great deal of effort has been devoted to developing reductive processes in the field of biomass valorization for the sustainable production of bio-fuel, additives and chemicals. Catalytic transfer hydrogenation, which uses alcohol as the hydrogen source, is an interesting approach that avoids the use of both high H2 pressure and precious metal catalysts. In this work, the gas-phase conversion of biomass-derived furfural (FU) into furfuryl alcohol (FAL) and 2-methylfuran (MF), using methanol as the H-transfer agent and Ta2O5/MgO catalysts was studied. The obtained results were compared to the ones previously determined with the pristine MgO, highlighting that the introduction of tantalum oxide left unaltered the ability of the catalyst to convert the fed substrate while a complete different products distribution was obtained. In particular the tantalum doped system showed, at low temperature, to catalyze the formation of the methyl acetal of furfural, named 2- (dimethoxymethyl) furan (DMEF), as the main co-product in addition to FAL.