Hydrotreatment of Anisole and Furfural as Model Compounds of Bio‐oil over Chromium Modified Nickel‐Based Catalysts

Abstract

AbstractHydrotreatment of anisole and furfural as model compounds of carbohydrates and lignin fraction of pyrolysis liquids was studied using Cr‐containing (from 0 to 18 wt%) Ni‐based sol‐gel catalysts. The catalytic activity of Ni−Cr catalysts was carried out in the autoclave at pressure 6.0 MPa of hydrogen and temperature 320 °C and 100 °C for anisole and furfural hydrotreatment, respectively. Addition of Cr to Ni‐SiO2 catalyst results in increasing activity in anisole conversion with the maximum for NiCr10‐SiO2 catalyst. This is attributed to the formation of dispersed metallic Ni detected by X‐ray diffraction method. Moreover, the Cr addition increases the corrosion resistance of samples in the medium of acetic acid at boiling temperature. In furfural conversion, the Cr‐doped catalysts showed the lowest activity, however, for NiCr10‐SiO2 catalyst the high selectivity to tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol formation was observed.