Mesoporous silica–supported copper catalysts for dehydrogenation of biomass-derived 1,4-butanediol to gamma butyrolactone in a continuous process at atmospheric pressure

A series of Cu/SBA-15 catalysts were prepared by wet impregnation method and tested for dehydrogenation of 1,4-butanediol (1,4-BDO) to γ-butyrolactone (GBL). As-synthesized catalysts were characterized by different techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), temperature-programmed reduction (TPR), temperature-programmed desorption (TPD), N2 physisorption, N2O pulse chemisorption, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis. Among the series of Cu/SBA-15 catalysts, 10 wt% Cu/SBA-15 catalyst exhibited a complete conversion of 1,4-BDO with 98% selectivity to GBL. The superior catalytic performance of the 10 wt% Cu/SBA-15 catalyst was attributed to the well dispersion of Cu particles with much number of active metallic Cu sites over high surface area, SBA-15 support, and surface acidity.