Catalytic deoxygenation of methyl laurate as a model compound to hydrocarbons on hybrid catalysts composed of Ni-Zn alloy and HY zeolite: Catalytic deoxygenation of methyl laurate

BACKGROUND The deoxygenation of renewable vegetable oils in a hydrogen atmosphere is feasible for yielding diesel-like hydrocarbons. In this work, hybrid catalysts composed of Ni-Zn alloy and HY zeolite were designed to achieve a highly efficient deoxygenation. RESULTS NiZn-LDH-HY, NiZn-O-HY and NiZn/HY hybrid catalysts composed of Ni-rich Ni-Zn alloy and HY zeolite were prepared by various methods. NiZn/HY prepared by a deposition-precipitation method gave higher Ni dispersion than NiZn-LDH-HY and NiZn-O-HY obtained by mortar milling. In the deoxygenation of methyl laurate as a model compound at 330 degrees C and 3.0 MPa, the hybrid catalysts led to higher reaction rates (ca 9.0 x 10(-5) mol g(Ni)(-1) s(-1)) than NiZnAl not combined with HY (2.5 x 10(-5) mol g(Ni)(-1) s-1). Particularly, NiZn/HY gave higher total selectivity to C-11 and C-12 hydrocarbons (80.2%) than NiZn-O-HY and NiZn-LDH-HY (47.4 and 41.5%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS This work provides an approach for preparing highly efficient catalysts for deoxygenation of esters to hydrocarbons by combining Ni-Zn alloy and HY zeolite. We deem that the closer proximity between metallic Ni and acid sites facilitates the deoxygenation via a synergetic effect between the two kinds of sites. (c) 2019 Society of Chemical Industry