Hydrogenation of furfural is carried out efficiently by ZrO2 using 2-propanol as a hydrogen source in liquid phase. Various characterizations like XRD, Pyridine-FTIR, NH3-TPD (acidity), CO2-TPD (basic property), and N2 physisorption study for surface area analysis were used to understand the properties and to correlate with the activity results. These results revealed that zirconia calcined at low temperature (573 K) possesses amorphous phase, high surface area and large number of acid-base sites which are helpful in achievinghigher activity
