The hydrogen peroxide-mediated oxidation of biorenewable furfural to 2(5H)-furanone using heteropolyacids supported on ammonium y zeolite as the catalyst

Abstract

A series of heteropolyacid supported on ammonium Y zeolite (HPA-NH<inf>4</inf>YZ) catalysts were prepared and used for the catalytic oxidation of furfural to 2(5H)-furanone in aqueous hydrogen peroxide. The catalysts were characterized by PXRD, FTIR, TGA, and SEM analyses. The organic-solvent-free reaction was optimized on temperature, duration, loading of catalyst, and the equivalent of H<inf>2</inf>O<inf>2</inf>. The 20%PTA-NH<inf>4</inf>YZ catalyst showed the best catalytic activity giving 2(5H)-furanone in 40% isolated yield by solvent extraction under optimized conditions (20wt% cat., 100°C, 90min, 7.5eq. 30%H<inf>2</inf>O<inf>2</inf>). In addition, around 20% of succinic acid was recovered from the aqueous layer. © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.