Bimetallic Ni-Fe alloys are theorized to be more active than Ni or Fe for hydrotreatment of biofuels and allow for fine tuning of the properties of the catalyst. However, it has previously been a challenge to devise a consistent method of preparation which gives nanoparticles of homogeneous composition in a uniform size distribution. There is also little firm consensus on the exact catalyst composition which is most active. Here, two synthesis methods for bimetallic nanoparticles were attempted, deposition-precipitation (DP) on carbon or silica and colloidal synthesis. X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence and temperature-programmed reduction were used to analyze the samples. The deposition-precipitation method produces bimetallic nickel-heavy nanoparticles (&gt; 60 wt%) only when the DP reaction is carried out under inert atmosphere, otherwise predominantly iron deposits on the supporting material. When the reaction mixture contains too much iron (&gt; 60 wt%), the particles adopt two separate compositions, that of pure iron and a nickel-heavy alloy. Colloidal synthesis forms bimetallic nanoparticles but further work needs to be done to investigate their stability.

Preparation of NiFe supported catalysts for hydrotreatment

249th National Meeting (2015)

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