Morphology-dependent catalytic activity of tungsten trioxide (WO3) nanostructures for hydrogenation of furfural to furfuryl alcohol

The development of effective and low-cost catalysts for the hydrogenation and stabilization of bio-oils is still a challenge to overcome. Several nanostructured WO3 catalysts were synthesized in this study to investigate the effect of morphology on their catalytic activity and selectivity towards hydrogenation of biomass-derived compounds such as furfural. The morphology of the catalysts was tuned via a surfactant-assisted hydrothermal process. Nanorods and nanoprisms WO3 catalysts were produced by using dodecyl dimethylammonium bromide (DAB) and poly (ethylene-alt-maleic anhydride) (PEMA), respectively, while WO3 nanocubes were produced without the use of surfactants. Various analytical techniques were used to characterize the morphology of the synthesized WO3 catalyst. Furthermore, hydrogenation of furfural was used as a probe reaction to evaluate the catalytic performance of the WO3 nanostructures. Notably, DAB-assisted WO3 nanorods (D-WO3) exhibited a relatively high furfuryl alcohol selectivity of 85% with furfural conversion of 52% at 100°C, under 10 bar H2 pressure over a reaction time of 120 min. A plausible route for the hydrogenation of furfural into furfuryl alcohol and other products over D-WO3 nanocatalyst was illustrated. The D-OW3 nanocatalyst's promising results indicate that it could be a viable, low-cost, and efficient alternative catalyst for hydrogenating furfural to furfuryl alcohol.