Conversion of D-Xylose to Furfural via Catalytic Dehydration Using Carbon Nanohorns Hybridized with NiCu Nanoparticles

Abstract

Production of furfural from biomass has attracted many research interests due to its usefulness as important chemical solvent and chemical feedstock for value-added products. Conversion of D-xylose to furfural via dehydration reaction enhanced by heterogeneous catalyst has also been an interesting issue. In this work, singlewalled carbon nanohorns (CNHs) hybridized with metal nanoparticles were proposed for catalytic dehydration of D-xylose to furfural for the first time. CNHs hybridized with Ni and Cu nanoparticles were in-house prepared by Gas-inject arc-in-water (GI-AIW) and then used as a catalyst for D-xylose dehydration. Physical and chemical properties of the catalyst samples were investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analyzer and BET analyzer. It is notable that Ni/CNHs provided the highest D-xylose conversion and furfural yield.