Selective Production of Furanic Ethers from Lignocellulosic Biomass over Mesoporous Zr‐Incorporated SBA‐15 Catalyst

Abstract

Abstract Etherification of furanic compounds such as furfuryl alcohol (FA) and 5‐(Hydroxymethyl) furfural (5‐HMF) to the corresponding ethers was successfully achieved over Zr‐SBA‐15 catalyst. For this purpose, various Zr‐SBA‐15 catalysts with different Zr/Si molar ratios in self‐generated acidic environment were prepared by one‐pot strategy in self‐generated acidic environment. XRD analysis revealed the increase in the d‐spacing from 9.021 nm for parent SBA‐15 to 11.66 nm for Zr‐SBA‐15, confirming the incorporation of Zr into the framework without disturbing the mesoporous structure of SBA‐15. For the lowest Zr concentration of 0.09 M, hexagonally ordered porous structure was found to be retained as confirmed by TEM while, increase in Zr/Si molar ratio to 0.14, resulted in loss of long range order mesoporosity. The presence of both Lewis and Brønsted acid sites in Zr‐SBA‐15 catalyst as evidenced by py‐IR, were due to the introduction of Zr in the frame work of SBA‐15. The co‐existence of Lewis and Brønsted acid sites in Zr‐SBA‐15 was responsible to catalyze etherification of FA and esterification of levulinic acid producing 2‐(Ethoxymethyl) furan and ethyl levulinate selectively, both of which are bio‐derived fuel additives.