Morais Rafael G, Ribeiro Lucília S, Órfão José J M, Pereira Manuel Fernando R
LSRE-LCM-Laboratory of Separation and Reaction Engineering-Laboratory of Catalysis and Materials, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal.
ALiCE-Associate Laboratory in Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal.
Molecules. 2024 Aug 22;29(16):3962. doi: 10.3390/molecules29163962.
The production of ethylene glycol (EG) from cellulose has garnered significant attention in recent years as an attractive alternative to fossil fuels due to the potential of cellulose as a renewable and sustainable feedstock. In this work, to the best of our knowledge, a series of low-cost Ni-W bimetallic catalysts supported on glucose/carbon nanotube hybrid carbons were synthesised for the first time and employed to transform cellulose into EG. Two different strategies were combined for the preparation of the carbons: the activation and addition of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) to obtain a hybrid material (AG-CNT). The catalytic conversion process proceeded through cellulose hydrolysis to glucose, followed by glucose retro-aldol condensation to glycolaldehyde and its subsequent hydrogenation to EG. Through the optimisation of the catalyst's properties, particularly the metals' content, a good synergistic effect of C-C bond cleavage and hydrogenation capabilities was assured, resulting in the highly selective production of EG. The balance between Ni and W active sites was confirmed to be a crucial parameter. Thus, total cellulose conversion (100%) was achieved with EG yields of 60-62%, which are amongst the best yields ever reported for the catalytic conversion of cellulose into EG via carbon-supported catalysts.
近年来，由于纤维素作为一种可再生且可持续的原料具有潜力，从纤维素生产乙二醇（EG）作为化石燃料的一种有吸引力的替代方案已备受关注。在这项工作中，据我们所知，首次合成了一系列负载在葡萄糖/碳纳米管混合碳上的低成本镍钨双金属催化剂，并用于将纤维素转化为EG。制备碳采用了两种不同的策略：活化和添加碳纳米管（CNT）以获得一种混合材料（AG-CNT）。催化转化过程通过纤维素水解为葡萄糖，接着葡萄糖逆羟醛缩合为乙醇醛，随后乙醇醛氢化生成EG。通过优化催化剂的性能，特别是金属含量，确保了C-C键裂解和氢化能力的良好协同效应，从而实现了EG的高选择性生产。镍和钨活性位点之间的平衡被证实是一个关键参数。因此，实现了纤维素的完全转化（100%），EG产率为60-62%，这是通过碳负载催化剂将纤维素催化转化为EG所报道的最佳产率之一。
