Production of acetol and lactic acid from cellulose hydrogenolysis over Sn-Fe@C catalysts

Acetol and lactic acid are valuable platform chemicals that have a broad range of industrial applications and their production from renewable cellulose is of scientific and practical significance. A series of Sn-Fe@C catalysts were prepared by sol-gel and high-temperature annealing method in an inert atmosphere and then used for preparing acetol and lactic acid by one-step hydrogenolysis of cellulose in aqueous system. 3Sn1Fe@C₆₀₀ as catalyst, the total acetol and lactic acid yield of 45.4% were obtained at 240 ℃ for 1 h under H₂ atmosphere, of which the yields of acetol and lactic acid were 24.3% and 21.1%, respectively. The results indicated that the yield of acetol and lactic acid was strongly dependent on the Sn/Fe ratio of the catalyst as well as the annealing temperature. The characterizations including BET, XRD, XPS, Py-FTIR and CO₂-TPD were carried out to explore the relationship between the structure of catalysts and catalytic activity. The strong L acid sites, basic sites and the metal active sites of the catalyst were the key factors affecting the selective production of acetol and lactic acid from cellulose hydrogenolysis.