Catalytic performance and deoxygenation path of methyl palmitate on Ni2P/SiO2 synthesized using the thermal decomposition of nickel hypophosphite

RSC Advances Pub Date: 2016-03-22 DOI: 10.1039/C6RA02601J

Abstract

In this paper, the catalytic performance and deoxygenation path of methyl palmitate on Ni2P/SiO2 catalysts were systematically studied in a continuous flow fixed-bed reactor. A series of Ni2P/SiO2 catalysts (with different molar ratios of P/Ni and Ni2P loadings) were synthesized at 300 °C using the thermal decomposition of nickel hypophosphite. The increased molar ratio of P/Ni generates phosphate-rich nickel phosphide catalysts and increasing conversion. Interestingly, Ni2P/SiO2 showed significantly higher conversion of methyl palmitate in comparison with Ni/SiO2. Furthermore, an activation temperature higher than 500 °C would significantly reduce the catalytic activity, as a result of the sintering of Ni2P. The pressure in a range of 3.0 to 0.5 MPa almost has no effect on the deoxygenation of methyl palmitate, but significantly affects the reaction path and product distribution. Finally, a possible deoxygenation path over Ni2P/SiO2 was proposed based on a GC-MS investigation.

Graphical abstract: Catalytic performance and deoxygenation path of methyl palmitate on Ni2P/SiO2 synthesized using the thermal decomposition of nickel hypophosphite
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