Surface modified porous silica-alumina glasses with enhanced hydrothermal stability for biomass conversion

Post synthetic surface modification is performed in order to increase Al2O3 content on the porous glass surface. The effect of Al2O3 grafting on the properties of porous glasses is further investigated. Textural properties show no changes after surface modification whereas total acid sites density increases. The modified samples exhibit higher hydrothermal stability than zeolites with no changes in textural properties and composition after aqueous phase biomass conversion at 208 °C for 50 h. Evaluation of the prepared materials in catalytic dehydration of sorbitol shows high selectivity towards 1,4-sorbitan as compared to the industrial standard H-ZSM-5 and H-MFI-55.