Catalytic performance of hybrid nanocatalyst for levulinic acid production from glucose

• Main Authors: Ya'aini, Nazlina, Amin, Nor Aishah Saidina
• Format: Article
• Published: 2012
• Subjects: TL Motor vehicles. Aeronautics. Astronautics
• Online Access: http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/46670/; http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4769163

Levulinic acid is one of the potential and versatile biomass-derived chemicals. Product analysis via HPLC revealed that the heterogeneous dehydration of glucose over hybrid nanocatalyst exhibited better performance compared to single catalyst. Hybrid nanocatalyst containing H-Y zeolite and CrCl3 could substitute homogenous acid catalyst for attaining high levulinic acid yield. Different CrC3 and H-Y zeolite weight ratios of 1:1, 1:2 and 2:1 were prepared according to the wetness impregnation method. The hybrid catalyst with a 1:1 weight ratio performed better compared to others with the highest levulinic acid yield reported (93.5%) at 140 °C, 180 min reaction time, 0.1 g catalyst loading and 0.1 g glucose feed. Characterization results revealed that properties such as surface area, mesoporosity and acidic strength of the catalyst have significant effects on glucose dehydration for levulinic acid production.