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Development of Ru-PEEK-WC catalytic membrane using a more sustainable solvent for stable hydrogenation reactions

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  • Giuseppe Bagnato
  • Alberto Figoli
  • Rhea Garbe
  • Francesca Russo
  • Francesco Galiano
  • Aimaro Sanna
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Article number106766
<mark>Journal publication date</mark>1/06/2021
<mark>Journal</mark>Fuel Processing Technology
Volume216
Number of pages10
Publication StatusPublished
Early online date15/02/21
<mark>Original language</mark>English

Abstract

As a promising technique for multiphase catalytic reactions, the widespread applications of gas–liquid– solid microreactors are still limited by poor durability. Hence, in this work a novel catalytic membrane was synthesised for carrying out the hydrogenation reaction of a bio-oil model compounds. A PEEK-WC membrane was obtained by VIPS/ NIPS technique using a more sustainable solvent (Tamisolve® NxG), with subsequently surface solfanation and doped with Ru. The modified membrane was characterised with different techniques and subsequently tested for the model compounds hydrogenation under mild conditions, achieving 75% furfural conversion and 57.5% furfuryl alcohol selectivity at 85 °C and 18 bar, while only 33% vanillin was converted to vanillin alcohol. The TOF for furfural resulted comparable to that of previously tested catalysts in conventional reactors. The microreactor performed in a stable manner for about 90 h with less than 1% Ru leached out in solution, outperforming previously tested Ru-PES membrane.