Vapor-phase hydrogenation of levulinic acid to γ-valerolactone over Cu-Ni bimetallic catalysts

Vapor-phase hydrogenation of levulinic acid (LA) to γ-valerolactone (GVL) was performed over SiO2-supported Cu-Ni bimetallic catalysts with different Cu/Ni weight ratios under ambient H2 pressure. Characterization of the catalysts was carried out using powder X-ray diffraction, temperature programmed reduction and thermogravimetric analysis. In contrast to the monometallic catalysts i.e. Ni/SiO2 and Cu/SiO2, the Cu-Ni/SiO2 bimetallic catalyst with a Cu/Ni weight ratio of 6/14 exhibits an excellent catalytic activity, and gave a GVL yield higher than 99% with a productivity of 1.64 kgGVL kgcat.− 1 h− 1 at 250 °C and at a high WHSV of 1.65 h− 1 for 50 h