Co catalysts on various supports for lipid hydrotreatment to produce green diesel

Abstract

The Co catalysts for lipid hydrotreatment into green diesel commonly has a poor dispersion of Co and big Co particle size due to metal agglomeration, limiting its catalytic performance. To solve this problem, three Co catalysts on activated carbon (AC), Al2O3, and nitrogen-doped carbon (NC) are prepared, among which the Co/NC is synthesized by using the Co metal-organic framework (MOF) as the precursor. In the hydrotreatment of oleic acid, the Co/NC catalyst attained 99.6% conversion and 99.6% alkane yield, much higher than Co/AC (76.8% and 14.9%) and Co/Al2O3 (96.3% and 18.7%). From the characterizations of the catalyst, the excellent performance is ascribed to its lamellar structure, large specific surface area, and high dispersion of Co sites, providing massive Co-active sites for hydrotreatment reaction. Moreover, the catalytic performance of Co/NC under various hydrotreatment temperatures with different feedstocks is investigated.