Comprehensive investigation of the biomass derived furfuryl alcohol oligomer formation over tungsten oxide catalysts

Article abstract of DOI:10.1016/j.catcom.2015.08.027

The feasibility of using tungsten oxide catalysts for furfuryl alcohol (FA) oligomerization reaction was investigated in the liquid phase at 100°C and ambient pressure. Five dimers (2,2′-difurylmethane, 2-(2-furylmethyl)-5-methylfuran, difurfuryl ether, 4-furfuryl-2-pentenoic acid γ-lactone, 5-fufuryl-furfuryl alcohol) and two trimers (2,5-difurfurylfuran and 2,2′-(furylmethylene)bis(5-methylfuran)) were observed in GC and GC/MS, while Infrared (IR) and Raman spectroscopy provided the co-existence of conjugated diene and diketone molecular structures, respectively. It was observed that C₉-C₁₅ oligomers' selectivity decreased as the reaction time increased. Ether bridge and terminal alcohol are dominant FA dimers which are very similar to sulfuric acid (homogeneous catalysis) catalyzed dehydration/condensation reaction of FA.