High-yield synthesis of alkyl levulinate from furfuryl alcohol and its upgrading to 2-methyl-1,3-dioxolane over AgPW

In order to relieve greenhouse effect, it is highly urgent to convert carbon-neutral biomass to value-added chemicals and liquid fuels by designing new process. 96.5% yield of biofuel alkyl levulinate was achieved in the alcoholysis of furfuryl alcohol with ethanol over highly active Ag+ exchanged H3PW12O40 (AgPW) catalyst at low temperature. In situ XRD, P-31 MAS NMR, XPS and NH3-TPD results confirm that AgPW contains large amounts of strong acid sites and stable Keggin structure, resulting in the excellent performance. Subsequently, new process was developed to synthesize biofuel 2-methyl-1,3-dioxolanes (MDL) with similar to 70% yields via a tandem furfuryl alcohol alcoholysis and acetalization reaction over AgPW. Additionally, MDL can be availably obtained from furfural, xylose and hemicellulose by an integrated multi-step process.