Rational Design of N-Doped Porous Carbon-Supported CuCeO _<i>x</i> Catalysts for Highly Efficient Hydrogenation of Cyclohexyl Acetate to Cyclohexanol

The development of efficient and cost-effective processes for cyclohexanol production remains an important industrial challenge. Herein, we report a well-designed CuCeOx catalyst supported on N-doped porous carbon (CuCeOx/nitrogen-doped porous carbon) used in the hydrogenation of cyclohexyl acetate (CHA) to cyclohexanol, where CHA is produced by the cyclohexene–acetic acid synthesis route. The catalyst was fabricated by loading Cu and Ce onto an N-doped porous carbon support (prepared by carbonization at 800 °C) via an ammonia evaporation method, followed by calcination and reduction at 300 °C, and systematic characterizations revealed favorable textural properties, an elevated specific surface area, and finely dispersed Cu+ active sites. Under optimized reaction conditions (250 °C, 3 MPa H2 pressure, 4 h), the catalyst CuCeOx/NPC-350–300 achieved 96.9% CHA conversion with remarkable selectivity to both cyclohexanol (97.8%) and ethanol (97.6%). More importantly, the catalyst maintained excellent stability over five consecutive reaction cycles, retaining 96.8% conversion and high selectivity (97.5% for cyclohexanol and 97.6% for ethanol). This work underscores the effectiveness of well-dispersed Cu+ sites, stabilized on a nitrogen-doped carbon support, in creating a highly stable and robust high-performance catalyst for ester hydrogenation.