Selective hydrogenation of biomass-derived ethyl levulinate to γ-valerolactone over supported Co catalysts in continuous process at atmospheric pressure

Abstract The present work is aimed to produce γ-valerolactone (GVL) from ethyl levulinate hydrogenation over non-noble metal cobalt catalysts at atmospheric pressure in continuous process. Various supported (SBA-15, SiO2, Al2O3, ZrO2, and TiO2) cobalt catalysts were prepared by wet impregnation method and characterized by XRD, N2 physisorption, SEM, TEM, NH3-TPD, H2-TPR and H2-pulse chemisorption techniques. The yield of GVL follows the trend Co/SBA-15 > Co/SiO2 > Co/Al2O3 > Co/ZrO2 > Co/TiO2 similar to trend in active Co metal surface area. The catalytic activity of the supported Co catalyst is strongly influenced by the dispersion and particle size of the Co.