Hydrodeoxygenation and hydrodenitrogenation of n-hexadecanamide to n-paraffins: Bimetallic catalysts supported on ceria-zirconia

The development of catalysts for simultaneous hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) and hydrodenitrogenation (HDN) is relevant for the production of renewable fuels. In this work, the activity of CeO2-ZrO2 supported Pt, Co, PtCo, Cu, PtCu, Ni, PtNi, Ru and RuNi catalysts was studied in the hydrotreatment of n-hexadecanamide at 300 °C and 80 bar H2. The bimetallic catalysts differed from the corresponding monometallic catalysts in terms of activity and selectivity. PtCu was less active than the monometallic Pt catalyst, as the addition of Cu suppressed the activity for hydrogenolysis reactions. Pt and PtCo showed a similar activity but a remarkably different selectivity, with Pt favoring n-hexadecane and PtCo favoring n-pentadecane. The RuNi and PtNi catalysts exhibited a higher nitrogen removal and an improved selectivity for n-pentadecane compared to the corresponding monometallic catalysts, emphasizing the potential of catalysts containing Ni and a noble metal. Furthermore, the formation of C32 compounds was limited on RuNi.