Ethyl levulinate (ELE)

a widely used organic chemical compound

can be produced from hydrogenation and alcoholysis of furfural (FAL). However

such processes have some shortcomings of long two-step process

large H2 consumption

and high cost. A single-step catalytic conversion of FAL to ELE over Zr-SBA-15 in near-critical ethanol was proposed with no H2 consumption. Among seven Zr-SBA-15 catalysts prepared with different Si/Zr molar ratios

Zr-SBA-15-10 (Si/Zr=10) exhibited best catalytic activity for FAL conversion to ELE. Further study of catalyst loading

ethanol amount

reaction temperature and time lead to an optimal operating condition

which 99.9% conversion of FAL and 47.4% yield of ELE was achieved in a mixture of 100 mg FAL and 50 mg catalyst in 7 ml ethanol at 220℃ for 3 h. The catalyst maintained good activity over four cycles of repeated use with no significant structural changes between fresh and 5th cycle used catalysts

which were characterized with XRD

N2-BET and TEM. a two reaction pathway reaction mechanism was proposed with catalytic hydrogen transfer as the major one

which was different from that of catalytic conversion of FAL to methyl levulinate in near-critical methanol.