Nickel Molybdenum Bimetallic Nitrides as Efficient Catalysts for the Hydrodeoxygenation of Methyl Palmitate

Abstract

Highly efficient catalysts play an important role in the effective use of biomass oil to produce clean fuel. In this work, pure‐phase Ni−Mo bimetallic nitrides (Ni2Mo3N and Ni3Mo3N) with different stoichiometric ratios are prepared by temperature‐programmed nitridation of the metal oxide precursors in ammonia, which are investigated in the hydrodeoxygenation of methyl palmitate in the fixed‐bed reactor at moderate conditions. The physical and chemical properties of catalysts were evaluated by H2‐TPR, XRD, SEM, TEM, XPS, and CO chemisorption. The Ni2Mo3N catalyst presents the best methyl palmitate hydrogenation activity (con.%=95.4 %) and the maximum hexadecane selectivity (95.0 %), which is obviously higher than those of Ni3Mo3N and Mo2N catalysts. By introducing transition metal Ni into the Mo2N lattice to form nickel‐molybdenum bimetallic nitride, the lattice structure and electronic structure of the Mo active center have been changed, which greatly enhances the hydrodeoxygenation performances for the transformation of biomass oil to clean fuel.

Transition metal nitride catalysts for selective conversion of oxygen-containing molecules

“…The authors suggested that the use of the pyrolysis synthesis technique to form a nitrogenated nickel complex, which provided the N source, followed by a H 2 reduction treatment, which led to metallic Ni and Mo formation, ultimately resulted in a more uniform distribution of N in the lattice compared with other synthesis techniques based on oxide precursors. Similar bimetallic nitride effects have been shown by using Co 3 Mo 3 N, 98 Ni 2 Mo 3 N and Ni 3 Mo 3 N, 99 and Ni–Mo carbonitride 100 for the hydrodeoxygenation and selective bond scission of another fatty ester, methyl palmitate. In particular, the use of Ni–Mo carbonitride (Ni x MoCN) for hydrodeoxygenation and decarbonylation of methyl palmitate represents another promising application of bimetallic TMNs.…”