Hydrodeoxygenation of m-cresol over nickel and nickel phosphide based catalysts. Influence of the nature of the active phase and the support

• Published in: Applied catalysis. B, Environmental Environmental, 2017-12, Vol.219, p.619-628
• Main Authors: Gonçalves, Vinicius O.O., de Souza, Priscilla M., Cabioc’h, Thierry, da Silva, Victor Teixeira, Noronha, Fabio B., Richard, Frédéric
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adsorption; Catalysis; Catalysts; Chemical Sciences; Cresol; Deoxygenation; Effect of support; HDO; m-cresol; Nickel; Nickel catalyst; Nickel phosphide catalyst; Phosphides; Silica; Silicon dioxide; Zirconia; Zirconium dioxide
• ISSN: 0926-3373; 1873-3883
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apcatb.2017.07.042

[Display omitted] •The Ni2P phase favored the deoxygenation of m-cresol compared to Ni(0).•Oxophilicity of ZrO2 enhanced the deoxygenation properties of both Ni and Ni2P.•The HDO activity followed: Ni2P/ZrO2>Ni2P/SiO2>>Ni/ZrO2>Ni/SiO2.•Methylcyclohexane was always the main deoxygenated product. The present work studied the effect of two supports (SiO2 and tetragonal ZrO2) on the performance of metallic nickel and nickel phosphide catalysts for the hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of m-cresol carried out at 340°C under 4MPa. All catalysts were characterized using several techniques (ICP, N2 adsorption-desorption, XRD, H2-TPR, NH3-TPD). The active phases (Ni(0) and Ni2P) were successively prepared at 450°C under 4MPa of H2, as observed by XRD. The activity and deoxygenation properties depended on the active phase (Ni vs Ni2P) and the support (SiO2 vs ZrO2). The order of HDO activity (mmolg−1h−1) followed: Ni2P/ZrO2 (47.0)>Ni2P/SiO2 (28.3)>>Ni/ZrO2 (3.0)>Ni/SiO2 (1.1). The Ni2P phase was clearly much more active than metallic Ni. In addition, the use of zirconia as support enhanced the deoxygenation properties compared to silica, which can be attributed to the presence of oxophilic sites (Zr3+/Zr4+) favoring the adsorption of m-cresol.