Daolai Sun

Hebei University of Technology · School of Chemical Engineering and Technology

The vapor-phase hydrogenolysis of glycerol was performed at a gradient temperature and ambient hydrogen pressure over a commercial Cu/Al2O3 catalyst modified with silver. Addition of Ag into Cu/Al2O3 catalysts was found to be efficient in inhibiting the decomposition of glycerol to produce ethylene glycol and gave a yield of 1,2-propanediol higher...

Vapor-phase catalytic conversion of glycerol into propylene was performed over Cu/Al2O3 and acid-loaded Cu/Al2O3 catalysts in an H2 flow at ambient pressure. Acidic substances such as WO3, MoO3, V2O5 and H3PO4 were loaded on a commercial Cu/Al2O3. The addition of WO3 was found to be effective for promoting the formation of 1-propanol and propylene...

A vapor-phase dehydration of acetaldoxime to acetonitrile was investigated over various solid catalysts. Among the tested catalysts, ZrO2, Al2O3 and SiO2 showed high catalytic activity for the formation of acetonitrile from acetaldoxime, while the correlation between catalytic activity and the acid property of the catalysts was not observed. Weak a...

Applications of renewable biomass provide facile routes to alleviate the shortage of fossil fuels as well as to reduce the emission of CO2. Glycerol, which is currently produced as a waste in the biodiesel production, is one of the most attractive biomass resources. In the past decade, the conversion of glycerol into useful chemicals has attracted...

C4 and C5 diols and alcohols are important commodity chemicals mainly used as monomers in the production of polyesters, polyurethanes and polyethers. C4 and C5, on the other hand, can be used in the fuel industry for the preparation of additives to boost gasoline octane number. The present critical review covers those reports describing the obtainm...

BACKGROUND Levulinic acid is an important platform chemical derivable from lignocellulosic biomass. In this work, the hydrogenolysis of levulinic acid to produce 1,4‐pentanediol was performed over some Co‐based non‐noble catalysts. The relationship between the catalyst properties and the catalytic activity was investigated, and the effects of the r...

The self-condensation of levulinic acid was studied using cesium silicotungstate (CsxH4-xSiW12O40) catalyst without solvent. The CsxH4-xSiW12O40 catalyst was characterized by FT-IR, Raman, XRD, NH3-TPD, N2 adsorption–desorption, SEM, and ICP. The results showed that the structure of Keggin was well retained in all samples of CsxH4-xSiW12O40 catalys...

Hydrogenation of γ-valerolactone (GVL) to form 1,4-pentanediol (1,4-PDO) was performed over Co/ZrO2 catalysts with a Co metal loading of 15wt.%. The calcination of Co/ ZrO2 at high temperatures significantly promoted the catalytic activity irrespective of the decrease in the specific surface area. The 750°C-calcined Co/ZrO2 with Co²⁺ species exhibi...

Vapor-phase dehydration of 1,2-propanediol to form propanal was performed over H3PO4/SiO2 catalyst with Brønsted acid sites, which exhibited a high activity for the formation of propanal, and the successive modification of H3PO4/SiO2 by WO3 and Ag could further improve both the activity and the stability of catalysts. The H3PO4/SiO2 catalyst modifi...

Long-term stability of catalyst is one of important factors in heterogeneous catalysis. Solid acid catalysts are widely used in various reactions in the chemical industry, whereas they readily deactivate in most cases because of coke deposition on the acid sites. Therefore, efficient methods for controlling deactivation of solid acid catalysts are...

Global supply of 1,3-butadiene (abbreviated as BD) is faced with a problem such as variation in chemical feedstock in recent years. Many research efforts have been made to produce BD from some renewable resources to replace petroleum. Biomass-derived C4 alcohols such as 2,3-, 1,3-, and 1,4-butanediol (BDO) can be regarded as alternative resources t...

Vapor-phase hydrogenation of γ-valerolactone (GVL) to form 2-methyltetrahydrofuran (2-MTHF) was studied over various non-noble metal catalysts under mild reaction conditions. Cu/Al2O3 catalyst exhibited a high catalytic performance, and the calcination of Cu/Al2O3 significantly affected the product selectivity. The Cu/Al2O3 calcined at 700 °C with...

Vapor-phase dehydrogenation of 1-decanol to form decanal was performed over various supported Cu catalysts such as Cu/SiO2, Cu/ZnO, and Cu/Al2O3. Among the catalysts tested in this work, Cu/SiO2 showed a high and stable catalytic activity for the conversion of 1-decanol to form decanal, and 77.4% conversion of 1-decanol with 98.4% selectivity to de...

Vapor-phase isomerization of 3-pentenal to 2-pentenal was performed over various oxide catalysts. An amorphous SiO 2 catalyst with a weak acidity and medium mesopore size showed a conversion over 82% with 2-pentenal selectivity higher than 95% at 250 °C. Several characterizations, such as thermogravimetric analysis, diffuse reflectance infrared Fou...

Vapor-phase aldol condensation of butanal to form 2-ethyl-2-hexenal was carried out over several oxide catalysts such as SiO2-Al2O3, Al2O3, ZrO2, and SiO2. Catalysts with moderate and strong acid sites such as Al2O3 and SiO2-Al2O3 were active for the reaction in the initial period, whereas they deactivated rapidly. In contrast, SiO2 with weak acidi...

Cu-Ni/SiO2 catalyst was developed by impregnation assisted with citric acid for the vapor-phase hydrogenation of levulinic acid (LA) to γ-valerolactone (GVL). The prepared catalysts were characterized by using X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscope (TEM), temperature-programed reduction, thermogravimetry analysis, and X-ra...

Vapor-phase dehydration of 1,4-butanediol and 3-buten-1-ol to produce 1,3-butadiene was investigated over rare earth oxides such as Lu2O3, Yb2O3, Tm2O3, Er2O3, and Sc1.0Yb1.0O3. In the dehydration of 3-buten-1-ol, heavy rare earth oxides such as Lu2O3, Yb2O3, and Er2O3 showed high catalytic performance for the selective formation of 1,3-butadiene w...

Hydrogenation of γ-valerolactone to 1,4-pentanediol was performed over both precious and base metal catalysts in a continuous flow reactor under H2 pressure. Cu/ZnO catalyst showed the highest catalytic performance for the formation of 1,4-pentanediol from γ-valerolactone. Low reaction temperatures such as 140 °C were preferable for achieving 1,4-p...

Vapor-phase hydrogenation of levulinic acid (LA) and methyl levulinate (ML) to γ-valerolactone (GVL) was performed over non-noble metal-based catalysts such as Cu/Al2O3, Ni/SiO2 and Co/SiO2. The catalytic activity and stability of the Cu-, Ni- and Co-based catalysts for the formation of GVL from ML and LA were investigated and compared at a low con...

Production of fuels and chemicals from renewable biomass resources is an attractive way to alleviate the shortage of fossil fuels and reduce CO2 emission. Glycerol is an important biomass derivative currently produced as a by-product in the manufacture of biodiesel in a huge amount close to 10 wt% of the overall biodiesel production. The applicatio...

Vapor-phase hydrogenation of levulinic acid (LA) to γ-valerolactone (GVL) was performed over SiO2-supported Cu-Ni bimetallic catalysts with different Cu/Ni weight ratios under ambient H2 pressure. Characterization of the catalysts was carried out using powder X-ray diffraction, temperature programmed reduction and thermogravimetric analysis. In con...

Vapor-phase intramolecular aldol condensation of 2,5-hexanedione to produce 3-methylcyclopet-2-enone was performed over several ZrO2-supported alkali and alkali earth metal oxides. Among the tested catalysts, ZrO2-supported Li2O showed a stable catalytic activity. A high 2,5-hexanedione conversion of 99% with a 3-methylcyclopet-2-enone selectivity...

Vapor-phase dehydration of C4 unsaturated alcohols such as 3-buten-1-ol, 2-buten-1-ol and 3-buten-2-ol were performed to produce 1,3-butadiene over various solid catalysts including ordinary solid acid catalysts such as Al2O3, SiO2-Al2O3, and TiO2 and basic rare earth metal oxides such as Yb2O3 and CeO2. In the reaction of 3-buten-1-ol, 1,3-butadie...

Vapor-phase dehydration of several 1,2-alkanediols, such as 1,2-ethanediol, 1,2-propanediol, 1,2- butanediol and 1,2-pentanediol, to produce corresponding aldehydes was investigated over silica-supported WO3 catalyst, which was prepared by impregnation method and then calcined at 320 ◦C. Higher than 90% yield of aldehydes could be achieved over WO3...

Vapor-phase lactonization of levulinic acid to produce angelica lactones, which include α-, β- and γ-form isomers, was performed in fixed-bed down-flow glass reactors over various oxide catalysts. SiO2 and SiO2-Al2O3 showed relatively high catalytic activity. The lactonization of levulinic acid to angelica lactones was found to be an endothermic eq...

Vapor-phase self-aldol condensation of butanal was performed over various solid catalysts. Among the tested catalysts, SiO2-Al2O3, Nb2O5 and TiO2 showed relatively high catalytic activity for the formation of aldol condensation product, 2-ethyl-2-hexenal, whereas all the catalysts deactivated rapidly. In order to stabilize the catalytic activity, m...

Vapor-phase cyclodehydation of diethylene glycol (DEG) into 1,4-dioxane (DOX) were performed over several solid acid catalysts, such as Al2O3, SiO2-Al2O3, Beta and MFI zeolites. All the catalytic activity gradually decreased with time on stream, especially Beta and MFI zeolites with strong acidic property. The catalysts were modified with silver me...

The vapor-phase dehydration of 1,2-propanediol (1,2-PDO) was performed over various supported acidic oxide catalysts. Silica-supported WO3 catalyst shows the highest catalytic activity for propanal formation than other supported catalysts. A high and stable propanal selectivity of 93.5% was attained in H2 atmosphere over 18.2%WO3-loaded silica cata...

Vapor-phase catalytic dehydration of 2,3-butanediol was investigated over metal oxides such as CeO2, La2O3, Yb2O3, ZrO2, Al2O3, TiO2, ZnO, Fe2O3, NiO, and Cr2O3. In the dehydration of 2,3-butanediol, 3-buten-2-ol was preferentially produced over monoclinic ZrO2 along with major by-products such as butanone and 3-hydroxy-2-butanone. Over ZrO2 calcin...

Vapor-phase catalytic dehydration of 1,2-propanediol was investigated over several solid acid catalysts, such as alumina, silica alumina, HY zeolite, and beta-zeolite. These acids catalyzed the dehydration of 1,2-propanediol to produce propanal (Figure 1), while zeolites were particularly deactivated because of deposition of carbonaceous species. A...

Solventless Diels—Alder reactions between volatile dienes and several dienophiles are studied in a closed batch reactor under pressurized conditions and without using any catalyst.

Dimerization of 1,3-butadiene was investigated in a closed batch system under high-pressure conditions. 4-Vinylcyclohexene was mainly produced without using any solvents or catalysts at temperatures of 150215 °C. The conversion of 1,3-butadiene was significantly dependent on the temperature and pressure. 1,3-Butadiene was converted to 4-vinylcycloh...

Solvent-free Diels-Alder reactions were carried out by heating a mixture of a volatile diene, such as 1,3-butadiene, isoprene, or 2,3-dimethyl-1,3-butadiene, and a dienophile, such as methyl vinyl ketone, methyl acrylate, or maleic anhydride, in a closed batch reactor. High yields of Diels-Alder products were obtained without using solvents and cat...