Bashir Ahmad Dar^1,2,3*, Sara Khalid², Tariq Ahmad Wani¹, Mushtaq Ahmad Mir³, Mazahar Farooqui³

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¹ Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (CSIR), Jammu, India.
² Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (CSIR), Hyderabad, India.
³ Post Graduate and Research Center, Maulana Azad College, Aurangabad, India.
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Abstract: A series of CeO2-Al2O3, CeO2-TiO2, CeO2-ZrO2, and CeO2-SiO2 mixed-oxide supported copper catalysts were prepared by a modified deposition-precipitation method from ultra dilute aqueous solutions and were investigated for hydrogenolysis of cellulose in aqueous medium, in the presence of hydrogen to produce sorbitol as major product. Among all the catalysts tested in the present work, CuO/CeO2ZrO2 catalyst proved to be the most promising with high conversion (92%) and excellent selectivity (sorbitol 99.1%), at an intermediate reaction temperature of 245°C in a neutral aqueous solution without an aid of liquid phase acid. The catalyst was recyclable in repeated runs and no deactivation was observed even after five reaction cycles. CuO/CeO2-ZrO2 has been characterized by XRD, SEM, TPR and BET surface area techniques.

Keywords: Biomass, Copper, Supported Catalyst, Hydrogenolysis, Sorbitol, Ceria

Cite this paper: Dar, B. , Khalid, S. , Wani, T. , Mir, M. and Farooqui, M. (2015) Ceria-Based Mixed Oxide Supported CuO: An Efficient Heterogeneous Catalyst for Conversion of Cellulose to Sorbitol. Green and Sustainable Chemistry, 5, 15-24. doi: 10.4236/gsc.2015.51003.

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