Synthesis of Porous Amorphous SiO2−Al2O3 Solid Acid Catalyst for Efficiently Catalyzing GVL Decarboxylation to Butene

In this study, porous amorphous SiO2−Al2O3 (ASA(Si/Al=x)) with different Si/Al ratios was synthesized by gel‐gel method, and used to catalyze green renewable energy source γ‐valerolactone (GVL) to butene. Research indicated that all prepared catalysts had large amounts of disordered mesoporous with the pore size in range of 2–13 nm. For the optimal ASA(Si/Al=20) catalyst, its specific surface area is 430.20 m2 g−l and pore size is about 8.13 nm. Due to the presence of suitable Al species, ASA(Si/Al=20) has the largest Brønsted/Lewis ratio and 0.5554 mmol g−1 weak acid site content. Under the optimized reaction conditions, 90 % butene yield can be obtained in 180 min at 300 °C. In addition, the regeneration performance of the ASA(Si/Al=20) catalyst is also satisfactory, and the yield of butene can be above 60 % after 5th cycles. After activation, the spent catalyst can be regenerated, and about 78 % butene yield can be also obtained. The porous amorphous ASA(Si/Al=20) was quickly synthesized by gel‐gel method in one step, and used to catalyze γ‐valerolactone (GVL) to butane. It has large specific surface area (430.20 m2 g−l), suitable Brønsted/Lewis ratio (0.66) and enough weak acid site content (0.5554 mmol g−1). Under the optimized reaction conditions, 90 % butene yield can be obtained in 180 min at 300 °C.