Efficient catalytic conversion of jatropha oil to high grade biofuel on Ni-Mo2C/MCM-41 catalysts with tuned surface properties

Abstract The activity of Mo2C-based catalyst on vegetable oil conversion into biofuel could be greatedly promoted by tuning the carbon content, while its modification mechanism on the the surface properties remained elusive. Herein, the exposed active sites, the particle size and Lewis acid amount of Ni-Mo2C/MCM-41 catalysts were regulated by varying CH4 content in carbonization gas. The activity of Ni-Mo2C/MCM-41 catalysts in jatropha oil (JO) conversion showed a volcano-like trend over the catalysts with increasing CH4 content from 15% to 50% in the preparation process. The one prepared by 25% CH4 content (Ni-Mo2C(25)/MCM-41) exhibited the outstanding catalytic performance with 83.9 wt% biofuel yield and 95.2% C15-C18 selectivity. Such a variation of activity was ascribed to the most exposed active sites, the smallest particle size, and the lowest Lewis acid amount from Ni0 on the Ni-Mo2C(25)/MCM-41 catalyst surface. Moreover, the Ni-Mo2C(25)/MCM-41 catalyst could also effectively catalyze the conversion of crude waste cooking oil (WCO) into green diesel. This study offers an effective strategy to improve catalytic performance of molybdenum carbide catalyst on vegetable oil conversion.