Deactivation of supported skeletal Ni catalyst and effect of regeneration temperature on its catalytic performance

Abstract

Deactivation and regeneration of supported skeletal Ni catalyst applied to hydrogenation of indene and styrene in fixed-bed reactor were investigated. The significant aggregation of skeletal Ni and formation of coke precursors were the main reasons for deactivation of catalyst. Furthermore, TG-DTA, XRD, SEM, BET and H2-TPR were utilized to characterize the regenerated catalysts and calcining the spent catalysts in air at 550°C for 3h and then reducing in H2 at 450°C for 3h under 240h−1 (GHSV) could recover its activity according to hydrogenation evaluation results.