Heterogeneous Non‐noble Catalyst for Highly Selective Production of Linear α‐Olefins from Fatty Acids: A Discovery of NiFe/C

Catalytic deoxygenation of even-numbered fatty acids into odd-chain linear α-olefins (LAOs) has emerged as a complementary strategy to oligomerization of ethylene, which only affords even-chain LAOs. Although enzymes and homogeneous catalysts have shown promising potential for this application, industrial production of LAOs through these catalytic systems is still very difficult to accomplish up to present. A recent breakthrough involves the use of expensive noble-metal catalyst - Pd/C through a phosphine ligands-assisted method for LAOs production from fatty acid conversion. This study therefore presents a unique, cost-friendly, non-noble bimetallic NiFe/C catalyst for highly selective LAOs production from fatty acid through decarbonylative dehydration. In the present of acetic anhydride and phosphine ligand, we found a remarkable improvement in yield of 1-heptadecene from the conversion of stearic acid over the supported bimetallic catalyst (NiFe/C) as compared to corresponding monometallic counterparts (Ni/C and Fe/C). Through optimization of the reaction conditions, a 70.1% heptadecene yield with selectivity to 1-heptadecene as high as 92.8% can be achieved over the bimetallic catalyst at just 190 °C. This unique bimetallic NiFe/C catalyst is composed of NiFe alloy in the material bulk phase and a surface mixture of NiFe alloy and oxidized NiFe δ+ species, that offer synergized contribution towards decarbonylative dehydration of stearic acid for 1-heptadecene production.