Biomass‐Derived Functionalized Carbon Embedded Ru Nanoparticles for Efficient γ‐Valerolactone Production from Levulinic Acid: Synergistic Effect and Optimization

Abstract Ru nanoparticles (NPs) embedded in functionalized carbon (Ru@FC) were synthesized and employed as a bifuntional catalyst for the catalytic transfer hydrogenation of levulinic acid (LA) to γ‐valerolactone (GVL). The synergistic interaction between the functionalized carbon support and Ru NPs was demonstrated with the carbon support facilitating the dehydration step, while Ru NPs acted as active sites for hydrogenation. The proposed reaction pathway involves the initial transformation of LA into a pseudo‐LA intermediate over Ru@FC catalyst followed by dehydration and hydrogenation steps to produce GVL. Additionally, the response surface methodology (RSM) was used for the first time to predict the optimal reaction conditions and evaluate the influence of reaction parameters on the formation of the desired product. The quadratic model was effectively fitted between experimental and predicted data with a low p‐value (<0.0001) and high R 2 (0.9967). Among the catalysts tested, 5Ru@FC‐30% exhibited superior catalytic performance achieving a high GVL yield of 98.6% under optimized conditions (10 mg catalyst, 130°C, 5 h). Moreover, the 5Ru@FC‐30% catalyst demonstrated high stability and reusability over five cycles. This work contributes a novel Ru@FC catalyst for sustainable and efficient biomass valorization.