A Ni-based catalyst supported over a spent fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) catalyst was prepared by a wet impregnation method.

A transformation of renewable biomass to useful chemicals, using waste fluid catalytic cracking catalyst-supported nickel, was accomplished.

A feasible route toward the sustainable synthesis of chemicals was provided via the transformation of monoterpene pinenes into pinane. This article discusses the conversion of pinenes to pinane over spent fluid catalytic cracking catalyst (SFCCC)‐supported nickel (Ni/SFCCC) at 110–130 °C and 2–6 MPa. The Ni/SFCCC catalyst was characterized by BET, XRD, SEM‐EDS, ICP, and FTIR. These measurements revealed that not only did the noble metal‐free catalyst Ni/SFCCC enhance the hydrogenation of pinenes to pinane, but a high cis‐trans ratio was also obtained: the conversion of pinenes and the cis‐trans ratio reached 98.48 % and 13.89, respectively. By fitting the kinetic data via the power‐law model, the hydrogenation of pinenes followed first‐order reaction kinetics, with the apparent activation energies for the hydrogenation of pinenes to cis‐ and trans‐pinane being 59.42 kJ/mol and 98.38 kJ/mol, respectively. The kinetic models described the formation of cis‐ and trans‐pinane well, with satisfactory accuracy compared to experimental observations. Furthermore, the reaction mechanism was derived via the Langmuir–Hinshelwood (L‐H) approach.

No abstract