catalysts Article Ru-(Mn-M)OX Solid Base Catalysts for the Upgrading of Xylitol to Glycols in Water Maxime Rivière 1, Noémie Perret 1, Damien Delcroix 2, Amandine Cabiac 2, Catherine Pinel 1 and Michèle Besson 1,* 1 Institut de recherches sur la catalyse et l’environnement de Lyon, University of Lyon, Univ. Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS, IRCELYON, UMR5256, 2 Avenue Albert Einstein, 69626 Villeurbanne, France;
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[email protected] (C.P.) 2 IFP Energies Nouvelles, Rond-Point de l’Echangeur de Solaize, BP 3, 69360 Solaize, France;
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[email protected] (A.C.) * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +33-(0)472-445-358 Received: 26 July 2018; Accepted: 11 August 2018; Published: 14 August 2018 Abstract: A series of Ru-(Mn-M)OX catalysts (M: Al, Ti, Zr, Zn) prepared by co-precipitation were investigated in the hydrogenolysis of xylitol in water to ethylene glycol, propylene glycol and glycerol ◦ at 200 C and 60 bar of H2. The catalyst promoted with Al, Ru-(Mn-Al)OX, showed superior activity (57 h−1) and a high global selectivity to glycols and glycerol of 58% at 80% xylitol conversion. In comparison, the catalyst prepared by loading Ru on (Mn-Al)OX, Ru/(Mn-Al)OX was more −1 active (111 h ) but less selective (37%) than Ru-(Mn-Al)OX. Characterization of these catalysts by XRD, BET, CO2-TPD, NH3-TPD and TEM showed that Ru/(Mn-Al)OX contained highly dispersed and uniformly distributed Ru particles and fewer basic sites, which favored decarbonylation, epimerization and cascade decarbonylation reactions instead of retro-aldol reactions producing glycols.