Issue 14, 2017

The synthesis and mechanistic studies of a highly active nickel phosphide catalyst for naphthalene hydrodearomatization

Abstract

Although HDS and HDN reactions over transition metal phosphides have been widely studied, few publications about aromatic hydrodearomatization (HDA) over transition metal phosphides are found. Using ordered mesoporous Al-MCM-41 (Al-M) as the support, a series of supported nickel phosphide catalysts with different Ni/P molar ratios and loadings have been prepared by a temperature-programmed reduction and characterized. The HDA activity of naphthalene was measured in a fixed bed reactor at 250–330 °C and 3 MPa. The results showed that the catalyst with initial Ni/P molar ratio of 1.25 and 15 wt% loading displayed the highest HDA activity as well as 99.0% of selectivity of decalin at 270 °C, which is even higher than that of 0.5 wt% Pt–Al-M catalyst. As a comparison, the HDA performance of various catalysts was also examined. The results revealed that the presence of framework aluminum favors HDA processes and a synergistic effect between nickel phosphide and the suitable acidity resulted in an improvement of the catalytic activity. Finally, the possible reaction pathway of naphthalene hydrogenation (HYD) on nickel phosphide catalysts was proposed. Taking into consideration the high catalytic activity, Al-M supported nickel phosphide can be considered as a very efficient HDA catalyst to decrease the contents of aromatics in the fuels.

Graphical abstract: The synthesis and mechanistic studies of a highly active nickel phosphide catalyst for naphthalene hydrodearomatization

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
07 Jan 2017
Accepted
23 Jan 2017
First published
27 Jan 2017
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

RSC Adv., 2017,7, 8677-8687

The synthesis and mechanistic studies of a highly active nickel phosphide catalyst for naphthalene hydrodearomatization

G. Yun, Q. Guan and W. Li, RSC Adv., 2017, 7, 8677 DOI: 10.1039/C7RA00250E

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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