Selective Conversion of Concentrated Feeds of Furfuryl Alcohol to Alkyl Levulinates Catalyzed by Metal Triflates

Abstract

Herein, we describe an efficient and recyclable catalytic system based on metal triflates capable of converting highly concentrated feeds of furfuryl alcohol (30–40 wt %) to alkyl levulinates in excellent yields (>90%). This constitutes a unique and important advance in the field. Indeed, the dilution of feedstocks represent one of the major bottlenecks in catalysis for the industrial deployment of biobased fuels and chemicals in our society. The impact of water in the metal triflates catalytic performances is also discussed. A comparison with a commercialized process (SFOS) shows that this catalytic route is in line with industrial requirements in terms of yield, selectivity, reactor productivity, and capacity. In particular, unprecedented space time yields up to 200 kg m–3 h–1 were obtained.