Effects of the preparation solvent on structure and catalytic properties of NiCoB amorphous alloy catalysts for hydrogenation of furfural

A series of NiCoB amorphous alloy catalysts were prepared by chemical reduction method in different single and mixed solvent systems and their performance for liquid phase hydrogenation of furfural (FUR) was evaluated. The catalysts were also characterized by N₂ adsorption-desorption, ICP, FE-SEM, HRTEM, XRD and XPS. The results showed that the surface tension, viscosity, polarity and solubility parameter of preparation solvent had important effects on the composition, morphology, structure and the catalytic properties of FUR hydrogenation of the NiCoB amorphous alloy catalyst. The NiCoB-MEG catalyst prepared by the mixed solvent of methanol/ethylene glycol (MEG, volume ratio of 1:1) showed the optimum liquid phase hydrogenation performance of FUR to furfuryl alcohol (FA) with a FUR conversion of 96.4% and a FA selectivity of 83.49%. It can be due to the improvement of dispersion and reduction of metallic components by the synergistic effect between methanol and ethylene glycol.