Benzene–toluene–xylene (BTX) from p-cresol by hydrodeoxygenation over nickel phosphide catalysts with different supports

Ni2P catalysts supported on different supports, such as SiO2 from different sources, Al2O3, TiO2 and ZrO2 were prepared for the hydrodeoxygenation of p-cresol (monocyclic phenol model in coal tar). The reaction was carried out on a fixed-bed reactor at a temperature of 330–390 °C under 2 MPa. The order of conversion of p-cresol was as follows: Ni2P/SiO2-2 > Ni2P/SiO2-3 > Ni2P/SiO2-1 > Ni2P/Al2O3 > Ni2P/ZrO2 > Ni2P/TiO2. Ni2P/SiO2-3 shown higher DDO path selectivity, resulting in the conversion of p-cresol of 93% and a selectivity of 72.6% for BTX products under the reaction temperature of 370 °C with LHSV of 0.5 h−1. This catalyst was also used for the hydrodeoxygenation of the crude phenolic mixture extracted from coal tar, which shown that the phenol deoxidation rate was 87.6% and the BTX product selectivity was 73.7% by GC–MS.