Hydrodeoxygenation of phenol and pyrolysis oil using Raney Ni and IL/Zr-SBA-15 catalysts

A novel IL/Zr-SBA-15 (n(Si)/n(Zr)= 2,10,40) catalysts were synthesized, and characterized by XRD, FTIR, SEM, TEM, N2 adsorption–desorption measurement and DSC/TG. The results showed that ionic liquid (IL) has been successfully immobilized on the surface of Zr-SBA-15, and the ordered mesoporous structure can also be well preserved, even after chemical grafting reaction. Using water as a solvent, Raney Ni and IL/Zr-SBA-15 composite catalysts were investigated by hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of phenol. The synergy of acid and metal catalysts can effectively catalyze phenol as a model compound for pyrolysis oil by tandem reactions. Under optimum reaction condition, the mean selectivity and yield of cyclohexane was 81.08% and 76.26%, respectively. The catalyst still provided satisfactory results after 5 runs. With reference to the study of phenol, HDO was carried out on the coconut clothes pyrolysis oil. The process conditions were optimized by response surface methodology. In addition, it is concluded that reaction conditions affect the order of naphthenes component content as reaction temperature>reaction time>hydrogen pressure. As a result, the content of naphthenes components in the bio-fuel reaches 34.43% and the HHV of 37.58 MJ/kg, indicating that this catalyst also has a good effect on HDO of the pyrolysis oil.