Non-precious metal catalyst, highly efficient deoxygenation of fatty acids to alkanes with in situ hydrogen from water

Conversion of biomass and waste oils to alkanes for the production of aviation fuel is attracting increasing research interests since it can provide sustainable energies from renewable resources to substitute the fossil fuels. In this process, the deoxygenation of fatty acids to alkanes is the key reaction. However, previous methods of fatty acids deoxygenation require gaseous hydrogen, noble metal catalyst and/or organic solvent, which are adverse to the sustainable development. In this work, a novel and simple method of deoxygenation of fatty acids to alkanes is proposed by using a commercial nickel (Ni) powder as the catalyst without any pre-treatment and water as both environmental-friendly solvent and sustainable hydrogen source . The hydrogen in situ generated from water exhibited a much higher activity than gaseous hydrogen for the deoxygenation of fatty acids, and an alkane yield of 90% was successfully achieved. The Ni catalyst is stable and still maintains high activity after recycles. This proposed process is simple, economical, sustainable and environmental-friendly, thus is promising for the practical application.