Abstract
The reduction of sugars to their hydrogenated form (sorbitol) emerges as an effective chemical way to enhance the productivity of cellulose depolymerization process. Nickel is not able to meet the activity and selectivity criteria when low metal contents are applied. A very promising alternative consist of Ni doping with noble metals. For this purpose, several carbon nanofibers (CNF) supported Ni-noble metal (Ru, Pt, Pd) catalysts were synthesized and tested in the hydrolytic hydrogenation of cellobiose (a cellulose model compound). The catalytic performance was compared with their monometallic counterparts and it was rationalized according to the characterization results. The Ru/CNF catalyst enabled the practically total hydrogenation of cellobiose, making unnecessary the Ni-Ru alloy formation. In turn, a remarkable synergic effect was noticed for the Ni-Pt/CNF and Ni-Pd/CNF combinations, as the yields to hydrogenation products (including cellobitol and sorbitol) exceeded the sum of the activity of their pure constituents.
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