LDH derived Co-Al nanosheet for lipid hydrotreatment to produce green diesel

Lipid hydrotreatment to generate green diesel can weaken the dependence on unrenewable fossil fuels. The catalytic performance of Co catalyst is greatly limited by the dispersion and the number of Co active sites. To solve this problem, the Co-Al nanosheet was synthesized by using Co-Al LDH as the precursor. In the fatty acid hydrotreatment at 220 °C, the Co-Al nanosheet attained 98.0 % conversion and 64.3 % alkane yield, much higher than that of the Co/Al 2 O 3 catalyst (83.7 % conversion and 18.7 % alkane yield). From the catalyst characterizations, the excellent activity of Co-Al nanosheet was mainly ascribed to its high Co content and lamellar structure, exposing massive Co sites with high dispersion and small particle size. In addition, the high percentage of weak acidity, strong interaction between support and Co sites, and the improvement of the decarboxylation route also contributed to its catalytic performance. Moreover, the kinetics of octadecanol hydrotreatment over Co-Al nanosheet and Co/Al 2 O 3 revealed that octadecanol hydrotreatment more easily occurred over Co-Al nanosheet regarding the lower activation energy.