Ruthenium Catalysts on Zr- SBA-15 and Nb/Zr- SBA-15 Supports for Xylose Hydrogenation

A novel Ru- catalysts based on niobia modified Zr- SBA-15 were developed for xylose to xylitol hydrogenation. The catalysts showed excellent activity and selectivity in the process at temperature as low as 70 degrees C providing 93 % conversion and >98 % selectivity within 90 min. As shown by the catalysts reduction (TPR-H2) and low angle X-ray diffraction, niobium oxide has a strong interaction with the deposited ruthenium. This causes a slight decrease of the initial reaction rate of xylose hydrogenation. However, modification of Zr- SBA-15 with niobia drastically improves the acidic properties required for a potential use of the developed catalyst in one- pot hydrolysis- hydrogenation processing of plant polysaccharides into polyols, which will be the focus of a future research.