2026-05-30T12:59:29Zhttps://riuma.uma.es/rest/oai/request

oai:riuma.uma.es:10630/402992026-02-03T11:18:03Zcom_10630_2254col_10630_37953

Modification of Sepiolite for Its Catalytic Upgrading in the Hydrogenation of Furfural Guerrero-Torres, Antonio Maderuelo-Solera, Rocío García-Sancho, Cristina Quirante-Sánchez, José Joaquín Moreno-Tost, Ramón Maireles-Torres, Pedro Jesús Cecilia-Buenestado, Juan Antonio Sepiolita In this work, a new methodology for dispersing metal particles supported in clay has been described. For this purpose, a sepiolite has been modified by a microwave-assisted treatment to increase the surface area and pore volume due to the progressive leaching of the Mg2+-species located in the octahedral sheet. These materials have been used as support to incorporate Cu species on the surface by a precipitation-deposition process from the thermal decomposition of urea at 95 °C. Once calcined and reduced, the Cu-based catalysts showed a Cu0-particle size lower than 5 nm in the case of catalysts whose support is a sepiolite subjected to acid treatment. On the other hand, when raw sepiolite is used as a support, the Cu0-crystal size is much larger (15–20 nm). This difference in Cu0-crystal size showed a variable catalytic behavior for the hydrogenation reaction of furfural in gas-phase. Catalysts with larger particle size promote the hydrogenation reaction, obtaining a yield towards furfuryl alcohol close to 60% after 5 h at 190 °C. In contrast, catalysts with smaller particle size promote the hydrogenation reaction and subsequently the hydrogenolysis reaction, obtaining methylfuran as a product with a yield of 58% after 1 h of reaction at 190 °C; however, the sites where hydrogenolysis are involved are more prone to be deactivated. 2025-10-17T10:44:00Z 2025-10-17T10:44:00Z 2025-10-17T10:44:00Z 2025 journal article Guerrero-Torres, A.; Maderuelo-Solera, R.; García-Sancho, C.; Quirante-Sánchez, J.J.; Moreno-Tost, R.; Maireles-Torres, P.J.; Cecilia, J.A. Modification of Sepiolite for Its Catalytic Upgrading in the Hydrogenation of Furfural. Ceramics 2025, 8, 21. https://doi.org/10.3390/ceramics8010021 https://hdl.handle.net/10630/40299 10.3390/ceramics8010021 eng open access MDPI