The development of Ni based catalysts for hydrodeoxygenation of lignin derived phenolics bio-oil, and understanding the surface Ni properties for selective control the desirable reaction are of great importance for designing economic catalysts for renewable fuels production. However, the unmodified Ni/SiO2 prefers to hydrogenate the phenyl ring at 250 °C, or C-C hydrogenolysis to CH4 at 350 °C and 1 atm H2 which cause plenty of H2 consumption and vast of carbon loss. Here, we report a clear strong metal oxide interaction (SMSI) with MoOx decorating on Ni surface, derived from optimized reduction of 3 nm NiMoO4. The structure was confirmed by detailed characterizations of X-ray diffraction, Raman, X-ray Spectroscopy, and CO chemisorption. This special structure is very active and selective for deoxygenation of m-cresol to toluene at a wide range of reaction temperature (250 °C to 350 °C) and 1 atm H2. Specially, it shows less than 5% phenyl ring hydrogenation selectivity at low temperature of 250 °C, and more importantly, it essentially has no C-C hydrogenolysis at high temperature of 350 °C. In addition, the MoOx modified Ni is important to achieve the high HDO activity, either partially reduce Ni at lower temperature or highly reduce the NiMoO4 to NiMo alloy would decrease the activity. The finding of this work opens a new strategy to design Ni based catalysts for low temperature selective deoxygenation of phenolics to aromatics, and a wide application in Ni catalyzed reactions. The significant changes of product selectivity for HDO of m-cresol (from CH4 to toluene) at 350 °C might offer a new probe reaction to detect the surface Ni properties.

MoOx-modified Ni catalysts with unique properties for hydrodeoxygenation of m-cresol

2019 Fall National Meeting

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.