| Summary: | 2-Methyltetrahydrofuran (MTHF) is a desirable biomass-based platform chemical with excellent potential as an ideal biofuel, green solvent, and raw material for synthesizing downstream chemicals. In this work, a series of copper nanoparticles encapsulated on SiO<sub>2</sub> were prepared by the wet impregnation method and evaluated as efficient non-noble metal catalysts for the vapour-phase hydrogenation of γ-valerolactone (GVL) to MTHF in a fixed-bed reactor under mild reaction conditions. The obtained catalyst properties were determined by XRD, FE-SEM, TEM, UV-DRS, TPR, NH<sub>3</sub>-TPD, N<sub>2</sub>O decomposition and pore size distribution measurements. Meanwhile, the parameters/variables tuning their catalytic performance (activity, conversion, selectivity and stability) were examined. Various Cu loadings featured on the SiO<sub>2</sub> support are essential for tuning the catalytic activity. Among the catalysts tested, a 5 wt% Cu/SiO<sub>2</sub> catalyst showed a 97.2% MTHF selectivity with 71.9% GVL conversion, and showed a stability for 33 h time-on-stream, achieved at 260 °C and atmospheric pressure conditions. It was found that a huge dispersion of Cu metal in support, hydrogen activation ability, abundant acidic sites and surface area are all beneficial for improved MTHF selectivity.
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