Rice husk-derived carbon-silica supported Ni catalysts for selective hydrogenation of biomass-derived furfural and levulinic acid

To achieve good activity in a continuous vapor phase hydrogenation of biomass-derived molecules via levulunic acid and furfural over rice husk derived C-SiO2 supported nickel (5-30 wt% Ni loading catalysts), synthesized by wet impregnation method have been used for the first time. Among the catalysts, 15 wt% Ni/C-SiO2 catalyst exhibited good activity in both furfural and levulunic acid hydrogenations due to higher Ni dispersion and smaller particle size. The activity exhibited by 15 wt% Ni/C-SiO2 for both hydrogenation reactions is either superior or on par with the catalysts cited in the literature under similar reaction conditions.