Catalytic deoxygenation of methyl laurate as a model compound to hydrocarbons on hybrid catalysts composed of Ni–Zn alloy and HY zeolite

Abstract

AbstractBACKGROUNDThe deoxygenation of renewable vegetable oils in a hydrogen atmosphere is feasible for yielding diesel‐like hydrocarbons. In this work, hybrid catalysts composed of Ni–Zn alloy and HY zeolite were designed to achieve a highly efficient deoxygenation.RESULTSNiZn‐LDH‐HY, NiZn‐O‐HY and NiZn/HY hybrid catalysts composed of Ni‐rich Ni–Zn alloy and HY zeolite were prepared by various methods. NiZn/HY prepared by a deposition–precipitation method gave higher Ni dispersion than NiZn‐LDH‐HY and NiZn‐O‐HY obtained by mortar milling. In the deoxygenation of methyl laurate as a model compound at 330 °C and 3.0 MPa, the hybrid catalysts led to higher reaction rates (ca 9.0 × 10−5 mol g−1Ni s−1) than NiZnAl not combined with HY (2.5 × 10−5 mol g−1Ni s−1). Particularly, NiZn/HY gave higher total selectivity to C11 and C12 hydrocarbons (80.2%) than NiZn‐O‐HY and NiZn‐LDH‐HY (47.4 and 41.5%, respectively).CONCLUSIONSThis work provides an approach for preparing highly efficient catalysts for deoxygenation of esters to hydrocarbons by combining Ni–Zn alloy and HY zeolite. We deem that the closer proximity between metallic Ni and acid sites facilitates the deoxygenation via a synergetic effect between the two kinds of sites. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry