Ke Xiong, Weiting Yu, Jingguang G. Chen
Dec 30, 2014
Citations
1
Influential Citations
46
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Journal
Applied Surface Science
Abstract
Abstract The selective deoxygenation of aldehydes and alcohols without cleaving the C C bond is crucial for upgrading bio-oil and other biomass-derived molecules to useful fuels and chemicals. In this work, propanal, 1-propanol, furfural and furfuryl alcohol were selected as probe molecules to study the deoxygenation of aldehydes and alcohols on molybdenum carbide (Mo2C) prepared over a Mo(1 1 0) surface. The reaction pathways were investigated using temperature programmed desorption (TPD) and high resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy (HREELS). The deoxygenation of propanal and 1-propanol went through a similar intermediate (propoxide or η2(C,O)-propanal) to produce propene. The deoxygenation of furfural and furfuryl alcohol produced a surface intermediate similar to adsorbed 2-methylfuran. The comparison of these results revealed the promising deoxygenation performance of Mo2C, as well as the effect of the furan ring on the selective deoxygenation of the C O and C OH bonds.