Morphology-dependent catalytic activity of tungsten trioxide (WO3) nanostructures for hydrogenation of furfural to furfuryl alcohol

Abstract The development of effective and low-cost catalysts for the hydrogenation and stabilization of bio-oils is still a challenge that needs to be overcome. Several nanostructured WO 3 catalysts were synthesized in this study to investigate the effect of their morphology on their catalytic activity and selectivity for the hydrogenation of biomass-derived compounds such as furfural (FF). The morphology of the catalysts was tuned via a surfactant-assisted hydrothermal process. Nanorod and nanoprism WO 3 catalysts were produced using dodecyl dimethylammonium bromide (DAB) and poly (ethylene-alt-maleic anhydride), respectively, while WO 3 nanocubes were produced without the use of surfactants. Various analytical techniques were used to characterize the morphology of the synthesized WO 3 catalyst. Furthermore, the hydrogenation of FF was used as a probe reaction to evaluate the catalytic performance of the WO 3 nanostructures. Notably, DAB-assisted WO 3 nanorods (D-WO 3 ) exhibited a relatively high furfuryl alcohol (FFA) selectivity of 85% with an FF conversion of 52% at 100 °C, under 10 bar of H 2 pressure over a reaction time of 120 min. A plausible route for the hydrogenation of FF into FFA and other products over D-WO 3 nanocatalyst was illustrated. The D-OW 3 nanocatalyst’s promising results indicate that it could be a viable, low-cost, and efficient alternative catalyst for hydrogenating FF into FFA.