Hydrodeoxygenation of lignin-derived phenols to produce hydrocarbons over Ni/Al-SBA-15 prepared with different impregnants

Abstract Non-noble metal(s)-based mesoporous catalysts are one of the promising catalysts for aqueous phase hydrodeoxygenation of lignin-derived phenols to produce hydrocarbons. In this paper, Ni/Al-SBA-15 was prepared through incipient wetness impregnation method and the performance of eugenol hydrodeoxygenation over Ni/Al-SBA-15 was studied. The effect of incipient wetness impregnant on the performance of eugenol hydrodeoxygenation over Ni/Al-SBA-15 was investigated. The materials were characterized by XRD, N 2 -sorption, TEM, FTIR, Py-FTIR, XRF and ICP-MS. In comparison with the traditional incipient wetness impregnation using water as solvent, the activity of Ni/Al-SBA-15 was significantly improved by using ethanol as solvent during the process of incipient wetness impregnation. For Ni/Al-SBA-15, the quantity of total acid was decreased after loading nickel species which was mainly due to the decrease of Lewis acid sites. The strength of Lewis acid in Ni/Al-SBA-15 prepare with ethanol as impregant was enhanced. The yields of propyl cyclohexane and propylbenzene from aqueous phase hydrodeoxygeation of eugenol over Ni/Al-SBA-15-E were increased. The super catalytic behavior of Ni/Al-SBA-15-E was attributed to the synergistic effect between the stronger Lewis acid sites and the intact framework structure of Ni/Al-SBA-15-E.