LAUSR

The development of sustainable and efficient catalysts namely Ru supported activated biochars was carried out for the selective hydrogenation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) to 1-hydroxy-2,5-hexanedione (HHD). In particular, the activated biochars (A Lw and A HSw ) obtained from pyrolysis and steam-based physical activation of two different biomasses from animal (leather tannery waste) and vegetal (hazelnut shells) origins showed completely different chemical, textural and morphological properties. Compared to A Lw , after impregnation of 0.5 wt.% Ru, A HSw with inner micro-meso channels and cavities and higher layer stacking disorder led to a better tapping and anchorage of Ru nano particles on the catalyst and a suitable Ru single crystal dispersion. This led to a high activity of Ru/A HSw catalyst in the proposed reaction giving more than 80% selectivity to HHD and full HMF conversion at reaction conditions of 100 °C, 30 bar H 2 and 3 h. Ru/A HSw also gave a promising performance compared to commercial Ru/C catalyst.