Waste Incineration Fly Ash-Based Bifunctional Catalyst for Upgrading Glucose to Levulinic Acid

The safe and resource-efficient utilization of waste incineration fly ash (WIFA) has emerged as a pressing challenge in solid waste management. In this work, WIFA was used to prepare a bifunctional catalyst (Metalsx/4@WIFA-S) for the production of levulinic acid (LA) from glucose. The yield of LA was 42.3% with water as the solvent. Moreover, adding 20% γ-valerolactone (GVL) to the system increased the yield to 50.7%. Reaction kinetics and molecular dynamics simulations were applied to elucidate the mechanism by which the solvent system enhanced the catalytic performance of the Metalsx/4@WIFA-S catalyst. Additionally, the environmental risks of WIFA in the preparation of catalysts were evaluated. The dioxin decomposition rate in the catalyst was calculated to be 99.87%, effectively achieving the detoxification of the catalyst. The concentration of heavy metals in the hydrolysate complied with emission standards, thereby reducing environmental risk. This study confirms that waste incineration fly ash-based bifunctional catalysts are effective and safe catalysts with great potential for application in biomass catalysis.