The Hydrodeoxygenation of Phenol over Ni-P/Hβ and Ni-P/Ce-β: Modifying the Effects in Dispersity and Acidity

The supported Ni-P catalysts (marked as s-Ni-P/Hβ(3) and s-Ni-P/Ce-β(3)) were prepared by an incipient wetness step-impregnation method, and characterized by XRD, N2 physisorption, TEM, XPS, and NH3-TPD. The catalytic hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) performance was assessed using phenol in water (5.0 wt%) or in decalin (1.0 wt%) as the feed. After the introduction of Ce, the conversion of phenol increased due to the high dispersity of the active site. However, compared to s-Ni-P/Hβ(3), the amount of total and strong acid sites of s-Ni-P/Ce-β(3) decreased, restraining the cycloisomerization of cyclohexane to form methyl-cyclopentane. Moreover, the kinetics of the APHDO and OPHDO of phenol catalyzed by s-Ni-P/Hβ(3) and s-Ni-P/Ce-β(3) were investigated.