P-doped carbon as an efficient metal-free catalyst for alcoholysis of furfural alcohol to ethyl levulinate

Ethyl levulinate (EL), as a potential fuel additive and versatile biomass-based platform molecule, has been the focus in the field of sustainable chemistry. In this contribution, a series of economic and environmental friendly biomass-derived P doped carbon catalysts were developed in this study for synthesis of EL from renewable furfural alcohol (FAL) in a hot ethanol medium. The carbon catalyst, P-C-800, synthesized via carbonizing the phytic acid at 800 °C, exhibited a good catalytic activity in alcoholysis of FAL to EL. The highest yield of EL could be 79.7% with a complete conversion of FAL at 140 °C in 6 h. Moreover, P-C-800 could be recovered efficiently and reused multiple times with sustained catalytic activity. It was revealed further by the detailed catalyst characterization and systematic evaluation of catalytic performance that both the acid content and surface area of the P-C-800 were crucial for the alcoholysis of FAL to EL.