Furfural Reduction via Hydrogen Transfer from Supercritical Methanol

Furfural derived from biomass hemicelluloses is an important intermediate for biofuels and chemicals. In order to further upgrade, furfural is usually reduced into 2-methyl furan that is more stable and useful. In this work, furfural was reduced by CuZnAl, CuMgAl, Cu2Cr2O5, CuNiAl as catalysts in a supercritical methanol without external H2 source. The best yield of 2-methyl furan was achieved among the H2 free furfural process reported as high as 74%. And the catalytic behaviors were discussed under difierent catalysts and temperatures conditions.