Solid-State Kinetic Modeling and Experimental Validation of Cu-Fe Bimetallic Catalyst Synthesis and Its Application to Furfural Hydrogenation

In this work, combined experimental and modeling techniques were used to understand the bimetallic catalyst formation of Cu and Fe. The first part of this study aims to address this gap by employing analytical techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermal and gravimetric (TGA), thermoprogrammed oxidation and reduction. These were used to track the evolution of the different crystalline phases formed for CuFe-Bulk and CuFe/Al2O3 catalysts, as well as hydrogen thermoprogrammed reduction (H2-TPR), to evaluate the reducibility of the oxide phases. Both bulk and supported catalysts were also studied in the hydrogenation of furfural at 170 °C, and 4 MPa of H2. The research provides insights into the thermal events and structural transformations that occur during oxidation and reduction processes, revealing the formation of multiple oxide and metallic phases. The proposed reaction mechanism obtained from XRD analysis and TG-based mathematical modeling provides valuable information about the chemical reaction and the diffusion control mechanisms. Furthermore, a catalytic test using furfural, a biomass-derived molecule, was conducted. This interconnects with the initial section of the study, in which we found that active Cu4Fe sites have superior performance in the CuFe/Al2O3 catalyst in the hydrogenation batch test.