Surface Engineering of CoMoS Nanosulfide for Hydrodeoxygenation of Lignin-Derived Phenols to Arenes

Abstract

We propose a surface atom engineering strategy to obtain a well-dispersed Co-incorporated MoS2 nanomaterial, which maximizes the Co–Mo–S phase and achieves high activity in hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of lignin-derived phenolic compounds. It was shown by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, Ramanspectroscopy, high-sensitivity low-energy ion scattering, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy that plenty of accessible Co–Mo–S phase were generated on the catalyst surface, which could accelerate the hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) reaction. Notably, most of the Co–Mo–S phases were located at the top surface of MoS2, which explained the full deoxygenation performance of the CoMoS catalyst. Moreover, among the diverse lignin-derived oxygenated compounds, phenolic hydroxyl HDO was structure-sensitive relative to diphenyl ether over Co-doped MoS2 catalysts. Effective conversion of mixed phenols to corresponding arenes such as BTX (benzene, toluene, and xylene) with high yield (>85%) and stable recyclability was exhibited by using the CoMoS catalyst with highly dispersed Co–Mo–S phase.

Chemicals from Lignin: A Review of Catalytic Conversion Involving Hydrogen

“…Although the continuous introduction of sulfur sources can overcome the challenge, it is inevitable to cause sulfur contamination in the environment. To address these problems, Mo‐ and W‐based catalysts were reported for the hydrogenolysis of phenols, but required relatively harsh reaction conditions . Subsequent studies mainly focused on the development of supported non‐sulfide metal catalysts, with hydrogenation and oxophilic sites.…”

NiMoS on alumina-USY zeolites for hydrotreating lignin dimers: effect of support acidity and cleavage of C–C bonds

“…Co or Ni promoted MoS 2 , commonly used for hydro-desulfurization (HDS) and hydro-denitrogenation (HDN) favor a consecutive DDO-HYD route during HDO to yield a mixture of alicyclics and aromatics, hence retaining the aromaticity partially or fully. Recently, Song et al 39 claimed that unsupported CoMoS nano-suldes are efficient in converting monophenols and diphenyl ether to aromatics.…”

Bio‐Based Cycloalkanes: The Missing Link to High‐Performance Sustainable Jet Fuels

“…[213][214][215][216] Aromatic hydrocarbons (catechol, 2,6-dimethoxyphenol, m-cresol) have also been generated by thermochemical methods. [217][218][219] To leverage bio-derived phenolic compounds as feedstocks for high performance jet fuels, Zou and coworkers developed a one-pot alkylation/HDO procedure for the conversion of phenol and cyclopentanol to multicyclic alkanes. [220] The procedure produced a blend of cyclic hydrocarbons using Hβ and Pd/C as the catalysts.…”