Efficient Preparation of Bio-based n-Butane Directly from Levulinic Acid over Pt/C

As a bio-based platform chemical, it is desirable to convert levulinic acid (LA) to varieties of value-added biochemicals. n-Butane, mainly from nonrenewable fossil resources, is a basic chemical to produce some important chemicals, such as butadiene and ethylene. In this paper, 95.5% yield of n-butane was obtained from LA in one-step over base-treated Pt/C at around 300 °C in 4 h. The reaction pathway was confirmed to be the hydrodeoxygenation of LA to valeric acid (VA) and then the VA decarboxylation to n-butane by kinetic studies. Base-treated Pt/C had better reactivity due to its improved decarboxylation activity. Detailed characterization of the catalyst revealed that the Pt particle size is the key reason for the activity improvement, and further studies showed that Pt nanoparticles with a size of 2–4 nm showed the highest decarboxylation activity. This is the first report on the direct conversion of LA to n-butane.