Effective conversion of acid pretreated pulp to ethylene glycol over ordered mesoporous WO3 catalyst

During the upgrading into biorefinery factories, the traditional pulp and paper mills urgently need to broaden the applications of pulp to achieve higher economic benefits. The conversion of pulp into high value-added bulk chemicals is considered as a potential approach. The pulp was previously treated by HCl and spray drying to decrease its particle size to 71.4 μm as the catalytic raw material. Mesoporous WO 3 with the specific surface area of 58.6 m 2 /g was then synthesized via KIT-6 silica template and it shown high performance in catalytic conversion of pretreated pulp into ethylene glycol. The feedstock conversion was 100% and the yield of ethylene glycol was 62.7% under the optimum condition. In comparison tests, the pretreated pulp and mesoporous WO 3 both displayed better catalytic performance than untreated pulp and nano-sized WO 3 without porous structure. However, the catalytic performance of mesoporous WO 3 decreased in recycling test and the reasons were analyzed preliminarily. This work demonstrated that the ordered mesoporous WO 3 was a high-performance catalyst and had potential for producing ethylene glycol in good cooperation with acid pretreated pulp.