Ethanolysis of Glucose into Biofuel 5-Ethoxymethyl-Furfural Catalyzed by NH4H2PO4 Modified USY Zeolite

Abstract

5-Ethoxymethylfurfural (EMF) can be considered as a potential biofuel because of its excellent combustion properties, such as high energy density and low carbon smoke emissions. In this study, Ultra-stable Y (USY) zeolite was modified with NH₄H₂PO₄ and then used as an efficient solid catalyst for the catalytic synthesis of EMF via ethanolysis of glucose First, the NH₄H₂PO₄-modified USY was characterized by FT-IR, XRD, BET, and NH₃-TPD. The effect of reaction temperature, reaction time, substrate concentration, and catalyst loading on the yield of EMF was investigated. The P0.2-USY optimal EMF yield was 39.6 mol%, which increased by 20.7% compared to USY, and still had better activity after being reused for 5 cycles. Moreover, the pseudo-homogeneous first-order kinetics model was developed to elucidate the kinetics of EMF formation from glucose, and the kinetics results showed that the activation energy of EMF formation (64.2 kJ⋅mol^-1) was lower than that of humins formation (73.2 kJ⋅mol^-1). Finally, the ethanolysis pathway was proposed based on the product distribution.