Review on Catalytic Hydrogenation of Biomass-Derived Furfural to Furfuryl Alcohol: Recent Advances and Future Trends

Biomass is one of the highly abundantrenewable resourcesavailablethat can be converted into several high-value-added products, includingchemicals, biofuels, and advanced materials. To achieve net-zero emissionsand improve biomass application, researchers around the world haverecently focused on expanding biomass processing techniques to value-addedproducts with the eventual goal of industrializing some of the products.In this review, we summarize lignocellulosic biomass derived furfural(FA) and its subsequent hydrogenation to furfuryl alcohol (FAL). Thiswork reviews the various types of hydrogenation catalysts and theirutility in the production of value-added products from FA. There willbe an increase in the demand for selective catalysts and process technologies,as well as an increase in the challenges during valorization, as theusage of biomass to achieve carbon neutrality increases. The reviewaims to provide a concise overview of the advancements in this fieldand the potential for sustainable FAL production. In this paper, wepresent a simple strategy for selecting catalyst systems and associatedprocess parameters that facilitate the highly efficient and selectivevalorization of FA to chemicals or fuel (bioadditives) for industrialuse.