Selective hydrogenation of furfural to furfuryl alcohol over catalysts prepared via sonochemistry

Copper–chromite oxide and TiO2-supported copper–chromite oxide catalysts are prepared by various methods. They are characterized with ICP, BET, XRD, XPS, SEM, and TEM, etc. Their catalytic performance for liquid phase hydrogenation of furfural to furfuryl alcohol is also valuated. The catalysts prepared by ultrasound exhibit good performance. Catalytic activity of TiO2-supported catalysts is higher than that of catalyst without TiO2, notwithstanding they are all prepared by ultrasound. It is worth stressing that after reduced the TiO2-supported catalysts, which are X-ray amorphous, display good performance at 140 °C, while the catalysts without TiO2 show no activity under the same condition. Obtained results indicate that the catalytic performance of catalysts depends upon the amount of reducible copper ions and the activity decay is related to the loss of metal elements on the surface of catalyst.