Conversion of biomass derived furfural to a jet fuel precursor in the presence of 1,4-butanediol as hydrogen donor

The use of alternative sources of energy derived from biomass instead of those from fossil fuels represents a viable alternative to the ever-increasing fuel requirements. One of these products is hydrofuroin, an important precursor for jet fuel that can be obtained from furfural by reductive self-coupling using 1,4-butanediol as hydrogen donor, both reactants have the advantage to be biomass derived products. Manganese aluminate, MnAl₂O₄ has a promising candidate for the reaction mentioned above. The solvent (ethanol or butanol) influence on the sol-gel preparation method, as well as the nature of the catalyst (HNO₃ or NH₃) used to control the hydrolysis rate of the precursors, were the factors followed in the evaluation of the catalytic activity. Ethanol as solvent and basic medium (pH 8) generate materials with higher surface area, uniform particles with smaller sizes, preserve the Mn/Al ratio corresponding to the formula MnAl₂O₄, have higher Mn²⁺/Al³⁺ ratio compared to butanol as solvent and acidic medium (pH 2) for preparation. Therefore, the highest activity, including the conversion, yield in products and selectivity in hydrofuroin, was observed on these catalysts.