Molybdenum Oxide-Modified Iridium Catalysts for Selective Production of Renewable Oils for Jet and Diesel Fuels and Lubricants

Sibao Liu, Weiqing Zheng, Jiayi Fu, Konstantinos Alexopoulos, Basudeb Saha, Dionisios G. Vlachos

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

51 Scopus citations

Abstract

Supported inverse metal-metal oxide catalysts have received significant research interest owing to their effective hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) activity toward biomass substrates, but the high cost of the reported catalysts poses a challenge for commercialization. We present the synthesis of a series of metal-metal oxide catalysts, Ir-MOx/SiO2 (M = Re, Mo, W, V, or Nb) and M′-MoOx/SiO2 (M = Rh, Ru, Pt, or Pd) and their HDO performance on multifuran (high carbon) substrates to produce renewable jet and diesel fuels and lubricant base oils. A MoOx-modified Ir/SiO2 catalyst with a Mo/Ir ratio of 0.13 (Ir-MoOx/SiO2) exhibits the highest product yield (78-96%) under mild reaction conditions. Controlled experiments using probe substrates reveal that furan ring hydrogenation and C-O hydrogenolysis of saturated and unsaturated furan rings occur in a sequential manner. The carbon atom adjacent to the furan or saturated furan ring of substrates or intermediate compounds undergoes slow C-C bond scission, resulting in a small fraction of lighter alkanes. Catalyst characterization suggests that Ir is reduced to a fully metallic state to dissociate hydrogen for hydrogenation. Intact MoOx, partly covering the Ir metal surface, promotes ring opening, hydrogenolysis of etheric and alcoholic C-O bonds, and hydrogenation of Câ• O bonds. This study highlights the potential of low-cost metal-metal oxide catalysts with low loading of oxophilic metals to enable cost-competitive production of bioproducts and demonstrates applicability of these catalysts on other substrates, including fatty acids, fatty esters, and lipids.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)7679-7689
Number of pages11
JournalACS Catalysis
Volume9
Issue number9
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 6 2019

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Catalysis
  • General Chemistry

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