Catalytic production of valuable C10 fuel precursors from biomass-based furfural

Furoin and furil, the high-value C10 fuel precursors, could be obtained by upgrading the biomass-based furfural. In this work, a feasible strategy for coupling furfural to furoin and further oxidizing it to furil was proposed. Results showed that the surrounding structure of the diimidazolium IL was the key to the furfural coupling, and the furoin yield could increase from 26 % to 91 % by adjusting the structure of ILs. Moreover, Ce/TiO2-ZrO2 exhibited promising catalytic performance for obtaining furil from furoin with a 97 % yield. Meanwhile, it could be recycled six times with only a 20 % decrease in furil yield. Mechanistic studies revealed that Ti4+ conducted the oxidation of furoin, and Olatt played a significant role in electronic transfer between the catalyst and O2, thus facilitating the oxidation of Ce3+ and the cycling of Ti3+/Ti4+. Overall, this work may provide some insights into the utilization of biomass resources.