Butanediols production from C4 sugar alcohol

MARÍA EUGENIA SAD; EMANUEL VIRGILIO; CRISTINA LILIANA PADRÓ

Chicago

Congreso; 26th North American Catalysis Society Meeting; 2019

Erythritol (ERY) is a poliol that can be easily produced by fermentation of sugars and isconsidered as a promising C4 intermediate obtained from biomass [1]. The most valuableproducts obtained from ERY hydrogenolysis are butanediols (BDOLs). 1,3-BDOL is used in food flavorings and for polyurethane and polyester resins, 1,4-BDOL as raw material forpolyurethanes and polybutylene terephthalate, 1,2-BDOL is used for the production of lowviscous polyester and plasticizers and the main products from 2,3-BDOL includes inks,perfumes, fumigants, etc [2]. The main reactions pathways of erythritol on metal catalysts involve the following reactions: C-O hydrogenolysis, C-C hydrogenolysis (to produce C2 and C3 products), dehydration (to render 1,4 anhydroerythritol) and isomerization (to form threitol). BDOLs are produced by C-O hydrogenolysis reactions via 1,2,4 and 1,2,3-butanetriol (BTOs), the consecutive hydrogenolysis of butanediols produces butanols and butane, which are less valuable products and therefore should be avoided.The direct hydrogenolysis of ERY to produce butanediols was previously reported by Amada et at [3] using 4 wt.% Ir?ReOx/SiO2 catalyst (Ir/Re=1); the selectivity to butanediols reached was 48% at 74.2 % conversion at 100ºC and PH2=80 bar after 24 h of reaction. Some recent research [4] was reported about BDOL production from ERY on bimetallic Rh-Re catalyst supported on ZrO2 and TiO2 and the highest selectivity to BTOL+BDOL reached was 37% at 80% conversion in the presence of 3.7wt%Rh?3.5wt%ReOx/ZrO2 catalyst at 200°C and 120 bar. To our best knowledge the role of support on Ir and Re catalytic properties related to erythritol hydrogenolysis to produced butanediols are lacking. Therefore, the aim of this work is to study the effect of the properties of the support on the Ir and Re species in order to get high yields to butanediols from erythritol. Significance: High yields to butanediols were obtained for erythritol reactions on Ir-ReOx/TiO2 at 200°C. The properties of the support influence the species of Ir and ReOx formed and for this reason the activity and product distribution are different for the six catalysts used in this work.