Selective conversion of furfural into value-added chemical commodity in successive fixed-bed reactors

Successive hydrogenation of furfural in two fixed-bed reactors connected in tandem with Cu/SiO 2 and Ni/SiO 2 as the catalysts was achieved under atmospheric pressure. Various targeting products including furfuryl alcohol (yield: 98.8%), 2-methylfuran (yield: 95.1%), 2-methyltetrahydrofuran (yield: 96.2%) and tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol (yield: 78.2%) could be obtained by variation of the reactor configurations.