Hidrotratamento de bio-óleo empregando fosfetos de níquel suportados em alumina recoberta por carbono

Abstract

The objective of this work was to evaluate the performance of nickel phosphides supported on carbon-covered alumina (CCA) in hydrotreating of a commercial bio-oil. The increase of the number of layers of carbon on the alumina promoted a lower interaction between the phosphorus and the alumina generating two types of active phase: Ni12P5, in the case of two carbon monolayers and Ni2P, in the case of four monolayers. The performances of these catalysts were compared with nickel phosphides (Ni2P) supported on two types of carbons (activated and mineral) and two commercial catalysts (Ru/C and NiMo/Al2O3). The results showed that the increase in reaction temperature (from 150 to 250 ° C) led to an improvement in the activity of the Ni2P/CCA-4 and Ni12P5/CCA-2 catalysts in relation to the others, producing hydrotreated bio-oils with lower oxygen content and higher calorific value. The use of two hydrotreating steps produced bio-oils with higher H/C ratios, indicating a higher occurrence of hydrogenation mechanisms. In addition, more thermally stable bio-oils were generated due to the significant reduction of compounds such as ketones and furfural. In general, the phosphides supported on CCA obtained similar performances to Ru/C and much higher than NiMo/Al2O3, indicating the promising application in the hydrotreatment of the biooil.