Co-Based Catalysts Supported on Ceria with Different Shape Structures for Hydrodeoxygenation of Guaiacol

CeO2 with three different morphologies of nanorods (CeO2-r), particles (CeO2-p), and cubes (CeO2-c) was prepared, and the guaiacol hydrodeoxygenation over their corresponding Co-based catalysts was performed at 160–220 °C, 2 MPa, a H2 flow rate of 80 mL/min, and a weight hourly space velocity of 0.7 h–1. Compared with Co/CeO2-p and Co/CeO2-c, Co/CeO2-r has smaller Co particle sizes, a higher Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area, and larger amount of Co active centers, oxygen vacancies, and weak acid sites. These better physicochemical properties for Co/CeO2-r provide more Co active sites for guaiacol hydrodeoxygenation, favor the adsorption and activation of guaiacol, and contribute to the cleavage of C–O. Therefore, Co/CeO2-r presents a maximum guaiacol conversion of 97.1% and the highest yield of cyclohexanol of 91.7% among these catalysts. The result shows that the shape structure of CeO2 has an important influence on the guaiacol hydrodeoxygenation performance over its corresponding catalysts.