A bio-derived furfuryl alcohol transformation into various high-value chemicals is a growing field of interest among researchers. This study reports an exclusive investigation of the porosity and active sites responsible for the efficient alcoholysis of furfuryl alcohol to alkyl levulinate by the aid of zeolite catalyst. Alkyl levulinate is a promising platform chemical potentially used as a fuel additive and also for the production of chemicals. A detailed study using well-characterized HZSM-5 catalyst on the influence of acidity and post synthesis modification like desilication, dealumination, metal ion exchange and phosphate modification revealed the most desired type of acid sites required to catalyze this reaction. Among the HZSM-5 catalysts tested, HZSM-5 (SAR 95) showed the best performance of ≥ 99 % furfuryl alcohol conversion and 85 % butyl levulinate selectivity under optimum conditions. The catalyst exhibited good recyclability additionally addressing all the challenges reported in the previous literature fulfilling the green chemistry principles.

生物衍生的糠醇向各种高价值化学品的转化正成为研究人员日益关注的领域。这项研究报告专门调查了孔隙率和活性位点，这些孔隙率和活性位点是通过沸石催化剂有效地将糠醇醇解为乙酰丙酸烷基酯的过程。乙酰丙酸烷基酯是一种有前途的平台化学品，有可能用作燃料添加剂以及用于化学品的生产。使用特性良好的HZSM-5催化剂进行的详细研究对酸度和合成后修饰（如脱硅，脱铝，金属离子交换和磷酸盐修饰）的影响揭示了催化此反应所需的最理想的酸位类型。在测试的HZSM-5催化剂中，HZSM-5（SAR 95）在最佳条件下表现出≥99％糠醇转化率和85％乙酰丙酸丁酯选择性的最佳性能。该催化剂显示出良好的可回收性，另外还解决了先前文献中报道的满足绿色化学原理的所有挑战。