The role of oxide location in HMF etherification with ethanol over sulfated ZrO2 supported on SBA-15

The etherification of 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furfural (HMF) over ZrO2 and sulfated ZrO2-SBA-15 was chosen as a case study to analyze (i) the quantitative relationship between the concentration of Lewis and Brønsted acid sites and the catalytic behavior in the above reaction, which is also of industrial relevance for the production of biodiesel additives, and (ii) how the location of zirconia nanoparticles inside or outside the mesoporous channels of SBA-15 could significantly influence the specific reactivity in this reaction, both before and after sulfation. Depending on the loading of zirconia (about 10 or 35 wt%), the characterization data by different techniques (TEM, XRD, BET, Dr-UV-vis, and XPS) agree in indicating that zirconia is located predominantly outside the mesoporous channels as small zirconia nanoparticles for the lower loading, and predominantly inside the mesoporous channels for the higher loading. The concentration of medium-strong Lewis and Brønsted acid sites were determined by pyridine chemisorption monitored by IR spectroscopy. While the concentration of Brønsted acid sites (formed after sulfation) is linearly dependent on the amount of zirconia in SBA-15, a marked deviation is observed for Lewis acid sites. The same conclusion was derived from analysis of the dependence of the catalytic activity in Lewis- or Brønsted-acid-site-promoted reactions. The analysis of these results indicated that the characteristics of the zirconia nanoparticles deposited outside or inside the mesoporous silica channels differ in terms of acid features and in turn of catalytic reactivity. © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.