Design of low-loaded NiRe bimetallic catalyst on N-doped mesoporous carbon for highly selective deoxygenation of oleic acid to n-heptadecane

Using nitrogen-doped mesoporous carbon (NMC) as the support, several NiRe bimetallic catalysts with low metal loading of 1 wt% were designed and prepared for the selective deoxygenation of oleic acid to n-heptadecane in the absence of hydrogen. Results showed that the Ni 80 Re 20 /NMC catalyst with a Ni/Re molar ratio of 80: 20 achieved the highest yield of n-heptadecane (92.3%) at 330 °C for 2 h in isopropanol solvent, and at a metal/oleic acid weight ratio of 1: 333. The catalyst can be reused at least five times with slight activity loss. Combined with the results of in-situ XRD, HRTEM, XPS and CO 2 -TPD, the formation of NiRe alloy, the very fine NiRe nanoparticle size at 2.30 nm, as well as the hydrophobic, mesoporous and weakly basic properties of the NMC support surface were demonstrated to contribute to the excellent catalytic performance of the catalyst.