Enhanced production of jet fuel precursors via furfural/cyclopentanone aldol condensation by synergistic pairing TiO2 with nano-ZSM-5 zeolite

Dataset: "Enhanced production of jet fuel precursors via furfural/cyclopentanone aldol condensation by synergistic pairing TiO2 with nano-ZSM-5 zeolite".

Aldol condensation of biomass-derived compounds offers a sustainable route to jet fuel precursors. This studyexplores catalysts based on nanocrystalline ZSM-5 zeolite (n-ZSM-5) modified with various metals (Ca, Mg, Sn,Ti, Zr) for the aldol condensation of furfural (FFL) and cyclopentanone (CPO). While both reactants can enter the ZSM-5 micropores, the resulting C10 (FC) and C15 (F2C) adducts are too large to be formed within or to exit the microporosity, being instead produced over the external acid sites. Metal modification significantly impacts catalytic activity: Ca and Mg reduce conversion, Sn is neutral, whereas Zr and Ti leads to enhanced performance.The TiO2/n-ZSM-5 catalyst shows by far the best behavior, doubling FFL conversion and sharply increasing theFC + F2C yield, which is attributed to a synergistic effect arising from the generation of accessible weak Lewisacid sites by highly dispersed TiO2 that complement the external Brønsted acidity of ZSM-5.