Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
6.3
3.9
Journals
Catalysts
Special Issues
Novel Catalytic Strategies for the Synthesis of Furans and Their...
share announcement

Special Issue "Novel Catalytic Strategies for the Synthesis of Furans and Their Derivatives"

A special issue of Catalysts (ISSN 2073-4344). This special issue belongs to the section "Biomass Catalysis".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 December 2023 | Viewed by 6197

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Sara Fulignati

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry, University of Pisa, Via Giuseppe Moruzzi 13, 56124 Pisa, Italy
Interests: biomass exploitation; polysaccharide and monosaccharide hydrolysis; 5-hydroxymethylfurfural and derivatives; levulinic acid and derivatives; MW-assisted chemistry; hydrogenation; etherification; flow chemistry; homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis; biofuels and biochemical

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The depletion of fossil resources and their environmental impact make the transition toward alternative carbon sources even more urgent. Under this perspective, renewable lignocellulosic biomass looks like a promising feedstock for the chemical industry, and in recent years, research has focused on the development of a feasible biorefinery, proposing several strategies for the conversion of biomass and its structural components to platform chemicals. Among them, furans such as furfural and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) represent strategic compounds thanks to their great reactivity. In fact, they can be involved in several reactions (hydrogenation, hydrogenolysis, hydrogen transfer, oxidation, etherification, etc.), leading to the production of innovative biofuels and biochemicals, such as monomers, surfactants, solvents, and adhesives. However, the proper tuning of the properties of catalysts (homogeneous/heterogeneous) applied in furan synthesis and in their exploitations, as well as the adopted process conditions, still represent critical aspects for the development of a sustainable and feasible process; thus, continuous investigations are undoubtedly necessary.

This Special Issue will present the most recent and significant advances in both furan synthesis and exploitation, focusing on the proposed catalytic systems, the applied process conditions, and the kinetic aspects. Original papers on the above topics and reviews are welcome for submission.

Dr. Sara Fulignati
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Catalysts is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • waste biomass conversion
  • polysaccharides and monosaccharides
  • 5-hydroxymethylfurfural and its derivatives
  • furfural and its derivatives
  • biofuels
  • biochemicals
  • homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis
  • batch and flow chemistry
  • new functional materials for catalysis

Published Papers (5 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

Jump to: Review

14 pages, 1320 KiB  
Article
Iron(III) Sulfate-Mediated Synthesis of 2,5-Furandicarboxylic Acid Dimethyl Ester from Galactaric Acid
by
Giacomo Trapasso
,
Beatriz Chícharo
,
Thomas Gherardi
,
Davide Redolfi-Bristol
and
Fabio Aricò
Catalysts 2023, 13(7), 1114; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal13071114 - 17 Jul 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1221
Abstract
2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) is one of the most studied bio-based monomers, being considered the best substitute for fossil-derived terephthalic acid in plastic production. FDCA is employed in the preparation of polyethylene furanoate (PEF), demonstrating superior mechanical and thermal proprieties compared to the widely [...] Read more.
2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) is one of the most studied bio-based monomers, being considered the best substitute for fossil-derived terephthalic acid in plastic production. FDCA is employed in the preparation of polyethylene furanoate (PEF), demonstrating superior mechanical and thermal proprieties compared to the widely used polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Nevertheless, FDCA synthesis mostly relies on the oxidation of the bio-based platform chemical hydroxymethyl furfural (HMF), whose notoriously instable nature renders FDCA yield and industrial scale-up production complicated. On the contrary, FDCA esters are less studied, even though they have greater solubility in organic media, which would favor their isolation and potential application as monomers for PEF. On these premises, we report herein an alternative green synthetic approach to FDCA methyl ester (FDME) using galactaric acid as the substrate, dimethyl carbonate (DMC) as the green media, and Fe2(SO4)3 as the heterogeneous Lewis acid. Optimization of the reaction conditions allowed the selective production of FDME in a 70% isolated yield; product purification was achieved via flash column chromatography over silica. Furthermore, it was possible to employ up to 5.0 g of galactaric acid in a single reaction, leading to a good isolated yield of FDME. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Catalytic Strategies for the Synthesis of Furans and Their Derivatives)
►▼ Show Figures

Graphical abstract

17 pages, 3728 KiB  
Article
Effect of Capping Ligands for the Synthesis of Gold Nanoparticles and on the Catalytic Performance for the Oxidation of 5-Hydroxymethyl-2-furfural
by
Francesca Liuzzi
,
Alessia Ventimiglia
,
Alessandro Allegri
,
Elena Rodríguez-Aguado
,
Juan Antonio Cecilia
,
Ivan Rivalta
,
Nikolaos Dimitratos
and
Stefania Albonetti
Catalysts 2023, 13(6), 990; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal13060990 - 09 Jun 2023
Viewed by 908
Abstract
Different series of Au on carbon catalysts were prepared via sol-immobilization to investigate the role of polymers (polyvinylpyrrolidone PVP, polyethylene glycol PEG and polyvinyl alcohol PVA), employed as gold nanoparticle (NP) stabilizers, on catalyst properties and on catalytic activity. The synthesized materials were [...] Read more.
Different series of Au on carbon catalysts were prepared via sol-immobilization to investigate the role of polymers (polyvinylpyrrolidone PVP, polyethylene glycol PEG and polyvinyl alcohol PVA), employed as gold nanoparticle (NP) stabilizers, on catalyst properties and on catalytic activity. The synthesized materials were widely characterized with several techniques (DLS, XRD, TEM and XPS) and used as catalysts in the 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) oxidation to produce 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA). The obtained results clearly demonstrated the PVA leading to the formation of smaller and more active NPs. On the contrary, polyethylene glycol was shown to affect gold exposure and, as a consequence, to reduce the catalyst activity due to steric effects while PVP-based catalysts presented bigger and more covered Au NPs. The investigation on the reusability of the catalysts demonstrated the presence of a significant deactivation on all prepared materials, but the presence of higher amounts of polymer seems to have a positive effect on catalyst stability even if associated with lower reactivity. Computational studies have provided interesting information on the NP-polymer interactions and consequently on the catalytic activities. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Catalytic Strategies for the Synthesis of Furans and Their Derivatives)
►▼ Show Figures

Graphical abstract

19 pages, 4638 KiB  
Article
The Effect of Support on Catalytic Performance of Ni-Doped Mo Carbide Catalysts in 2-Methylfuran Production
by
Andrey Smirnov
,
Ivan N. Shilov
,
Maria V. Alekseeva
,
Olga A. Bulavchenko
,
Andrey A. Saraev
and
Vadim A. Yakovlev
Catalysts 2023, 13(5), 870; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal13050870 - 10 May 2023
Viewed by 965
Abstract
Ni-doped Mo carbide with Ni/Mo atomic ratio of 0.1 was supported on SiO2, Al2O3, and a porous carbon material (C), using a combination of gel combustion and impregnation methods. XRD, XPS, XANES, and EXAFS analyses indicated that [...] Read more.
Ni-doped Mo carbide with Ni/Mo atomic ratio of 0.1 was supported on SiO2, Al2O3, and a porous carbon material (C), using a combination of gel combustion and impregnation methods. XRD, XPS, XANES, and EXAFS analyses indicated that the main active sites for the supported catalysts were metallic nickel and Mo carbides. The catalysts were evaluated in furfural hydrogenation to produce 2-methylfuran (2-MF) in a batch reactor at 150 °C under a hydrogen pressure of 6.0 MPa. The carbide materials supported on C showed the highest activity and selectivity towards 2-MF formation, with a yield of 61 mol.% after 3.5 h. Using furfuryl alcohol as the feedstock instead of furfural resulted in a high selectivity to 2-MF production. The carbon-supported sample was tested in a fixed-bed reactor at 160–260 °C with a pressure of 5.0 MPa in the hydrogenation of furfuryl alcohol, leading to the formation of up to 82 mol.% of 2-MF at 160–200 °C. The higher temperature (260 °C) resulted in the formation of C5 alcohols and hydrocarbons, while the hydrogenation of furfural at the same temperature led to 100 mol.% conversion, and up to an 86 mol.% yield of 2-MF. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Catalytic Strategies for the Synthesis of Furans and Their Derivatives)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

12 pages, 1386 KiB  
Article
One-Pot Conversion of Furfural to γ-Valerolactone over Co- and Pt-Doped ZSM-5 Catalysts
by
Weerachon Tolek
,
Warucha Auppahad
,
Patcharaporn Weerachawanasak
,
Okorn Mekasuwandumrong
,
Piyasan Praserthdam
and
Joongjai Panpranot
Catalysts 2023, 13(3), 498; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal13030498 - 28 Feb 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 870
Abstract
γ-Valerolactone (GVL) is one of the useful biomass compounds produced via different reaction pathways from hemicellulose. In this study, Co- and Pt-doped/ZSM-5 catalysts with different Co loadings (0–10 wt.%) and Pt loadings (0.5–2 wt.%) were prepared by impregnation method and employed in a [...] Read more.
γ-Valerolactone (GVL) is one of the useful biomass compounds produced via different reaction pathways from hemicellulose. In this study, Co- and Pt-doped/ZSM-5 catalysts with different Co loadings (0–10 wt.%) and Pt loadings (0.5–2 wt.%) were prepared by impregnation method and employed in a one-pot conversion of furfural to GVL. The yield of GVL increased with increasing reaction temperature from 100 to 140 °C. At the reaction temperature of 120 °C, higher amounts of secondary products such as AL and IPL can be converted to GVL, especially on the Co- and Pt-modified ZSM-5 catalysts. Compared to the non-modified H-ZSM-5 (GVL yield 35.4%), Co- and Pt-doped ZSM-5 catalysts exhibited much higher yield of GVL with the 1%Pt/ZSM-5 catalyst showing the highest yield of GVL at 85.4% at 120 °C and 1 bar N2 without the use of liquid acid or external H2 supply. The catalyst performances were correlated to the physicochemical properties of the catalysts such as the amount and type of acid sites. The NH3-TPD and in situ FTIR spectra of pyridine adsorption results revealed that Co- and Pt-loaded on ZSM-5 enhanced Lewis and weak acid sites, which are beneficial for the reaction. The results present a simple strategy to obtain high GVL yield under relatively mild conditions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Catalytic Strategies for the Synthesis of Furans and Their Derivatives)
►▼ Show Figures

Graphical abstract

Review

Jump to: Research

46 pages, 2427 KiB  
Review
Novel Challenges on the Catalytic Synthesis of 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) from Real Feedstocks
by
Sara Fulignati
,
Domenico Licursi
,
Nicola Di Fidio
,
Claudia Antonetti
and
Anna Maria Raspolli Galletti
Catalysts 2022, 12(12), 1664; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal12121664 - 18 Dec 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1572
Abstract
The depletion of fossil resources makes the transition towards renewable ones more urgent. For this purpose, the synthesis of strategic platform-chemicals, such as 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), represents a fundamental challenge for the development of a feasible bio-refinery. HMF perfectly deals with this necessity, because [...] Read more.
The depletion of fossil resources makes the transition towards renewable ones more urgent. For this purpose, the synthesis of strategic platform-chemicals, such as 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), represents a fundamental challenge for the development of a feasible bio-refinery. HMF perfectly deals with this necessity, because it can be obtained from the hexose fraction of biomass. Thanks to its high reactivity, it can be exploited for the synthesis of renewable monomers, solvents, and bio-fuels. Sustainable HMF synthesis requires the use of waste biomasses, rather than model compounds such as monosaccharides or polysaccharides, making its production more economically advantageous from an industrial perspective. However, the production of HMF from real feedstocks generally suffers from scarce selectivity, due to their complex chemical composition and HMF instability. On this basis, different strategies have been adopted to maximize the HMF yield. Under this perspective, the properties of the catalytic system, as well as the choice of a suitable solvent and the addition of an eventual pretreatment of the biomass, represent key aspects of the optimization of HMF synthesis. On this basis, the present review summarizes and critically discusses the most recent and attractive strategies for HMF production from real feedstocks, focusing on the smartest catalytic systems and the overall sustainability of the adopted reaction conditions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Catalytic Strategies for the Synthesis of Furans and Their Derivatives)
►▼ Show Figures

Graphical abstract

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-5

Planned Papers

The below list represents only planned manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts have not been received by the Editorial Office yet. Papers submitted to MDPI journals are subject to peer-review.

Title: The effect of support on catalytical performance of Ni-doped Mo carbide catalysts in 2-methylfuran production
Author: Smirnov
Highlights: Supported Ni-MoC catalysts were synthesized by the combination of a Pechini-based method and the wet impregnation method. Ni-MoC/C catalyst demonstrated high activity in furfural conversion into 2-methylfuran. Ni-MoCx particles are responsible for the formation of 2-methylfuran.

Back to TopTop