Effect of Zn/Al ratio of Ni/ZnO-Al2O3 catalysts on the catalytic deoxygenation of oleic acid into alkane

Article abstract of DOI:10.1016/j.apcata.2016.11.012

Ni-based catalysts supported on Zn-Al composite oxides have been prepared for the catalytic deoxygenation of oleic acid into diesel-ranged alkanes, and the effects of the Zn/Al ratio on the physico-chemical properties of the supports and the deoxygenation activity of the final catalyst were investigated in detail. The results showed that higher Zn/Al ratios led to lower specific surface area of the supports and weakening of the interaction between Ni species and supports thereby improving the reducibility of Ni species. However, higher Zn/Al ratios may limit the dispersion of Ni species, leading to a decrease in the exposure of metallic Ni. Because the conversion and deoxygenation of the reactants mainly depended on the hydrogenation capability of the catalysts which was controlled by the amount of exposed metallic Ni, the catalyst with a Zn/Al ratio of 2/1 showed the highest hydrogenation rate and alkane yield. Further decreasing the Zn/Al ratio led to strong metal-support interaction, making the Ni species difficult to reduce, which may also inhibit the formation of alkane products. In addition, the change in Zn/Al ratio affected intermediate type, which could affect the yield of alkane products.

Full text of DOI:10.1016/j.apcata.2016.11.012

Accepted Manuscript
Title: Effect of Zn/Al ratio of Ni/ZnO-Al2O3 catalysts on the
catalytic deoxygenation of oleic acid into alkane
Author: Lei Chen Feng Zhang Guangci Li Xuebing Li
PII:
S0926-860X(16)30551-8
DOI:
Reference:
http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.1016/j.apcata.2016.11.012
APCATA 16060
To appear in:
Applied Catalysis A: General
Received date:
Revised date:
Accepted date:
22-7-2016
6-11-2016
9-11-2016
Please cite this article as: Lei Chen, Feng Zhang, Guangci Li, Xuebing Li, Effect of
Zn/Al ratio of Ni/ZnO-Al2O3 catalysts on the catalytic deoxygenation of oleic acid into
alkane, Applied Catalysis A, General http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apcata.2016.11.012
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Graphical abstract
1

Research highlights
1. The addition of Zn atoms into support leads a decrease in
metal-support interaction.
2. Weakening metal-support interaction favors the reduction of surface Ni
species.
3. HDO activity of catalyst depends strongly on the proportion of exposed
metallic Ni.
2

Effect of Zn/Al ratio of Ni/ZnO-Al2O3 catalysts on the catalytic
deoxygenation of oleic acid into alkane
Lei Chen, Feng Zhang, Guangci Li,* Xuebing Li*
Key Laboratory of Biofuels, Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of
Sciences, Qingdao, 266101, PR China
Abstract: Ni-based catalysts supported on Zn-Al composite oxides have been
prepared for the catalytic deoxygenation of oleic acid into diesel-ranged alkanes, and
the effects of the Zn/Al ratio on the physico-chemical properties of the supports and
the deoxygenation activity of the final catalyst were investigated in detail. The results
showed that higher Zn/Al ratios led to lower specific surface area of the supports and
weakening of the interaction between Ni species and supports thereby improving the
reducibility of Ni species. However, higher Zn/Al ratios may limit the dispersion of
Ni species, leading to a decrease in the exposure of metallic Ni. Because the
conversion and deoxygenation of the reactants mainly depended on the hydrogenation
capability of the catalysts which was controlled by the amount of exposed metallic Ni,
the catalyst with a Zn/Al ratio of 2/1 showed the highest hydrogenation rate and
alkane yield. Further decreasing the Zn/Al ratio led to strong metal-support interaction,
making the Ni species difficult to reduce, which may also inhibit the formation of
alkane products. In addition, the change in Zn/Al ratio affected intermediate type,
which could affect the yield of alkane products.
Keywords: Biodiesel; Zn-Al composite oxide; Deoxygenation; Oleic acid; Alkane.
* Corresponding authors. Tel.: +860532080662759; Fax: +86 532 80662759. Email: ligc@qibebt.ac.cn (G. Li);
lixb@qibebt.ac.cn (X. Li).
3

1. Introduction
The rapid increase in the consumption of transportation fuels and the environmental
pollution has spurred the development of clean and sustainable fuels worldwide [1].
Among the renewable fuels, biodiesel has received significant attention in the past
decade because it can be blended with petroleum-based diesel in all proportions and
used directly without further modification [2]. Despite this, biodiesel suffers from
high oxygen content, high pour point, poor thermal and chemical stabilities, and low
energy density issues [3,4]. In order to overcome them, catalytic hydrodeoxygenation
(HDO, removal of oxygen atoms) of biodiesel or vegetable oils for producing
diesel-ranged hydrocarbon fuels has been intensively investigated in recent years
[5-7].
Three different groups of catalysts have been widely used for HDO reactions: (i)
supported sulphided transition metal catalysts [8-10]; (ii) supported noble metal
catalysts [11-13]; and (iii) supported reduced transition metal catalysts [14-16]. The
noble metal catalysts show high activity and stability, although their limited reserves
and high cost inhibit their application on a large scale. Sulphided catalysts
catalytically convert biodiesel into hydrocarbons and have been industrialized for
many years, although their use requires the addition of sulfur-containing compounds
such H2S or CS2 to maintain the catalytic activity [17]. However, these catalysts suffer
from the generation of sulfur residues along with the reaction products and H2S
emissions, thereby increasing the operating cost. Having this in mind, supported
reduced transition metal catalysts have been developed showing high liquid
4

hydrocarbon yields during the conversion of vegetable oils. Solid acid materials such
as SAPO-11 [18,19], Al-SBA-15 [20-22], H [23,24], and HZSM-5 [25,26] are
typically used as supports for these catalysts. Because of their strong acid strength,
cracking and isomerization reactions are inevitable, thus affecting the composition
and yield of the final liquid product. Moreover, these supports readily produce carbon
deposition during the HDO process thereby reducing or even deactivating the
catalytic activity. In view of this, weak acid (e.g., active Al2O3) and neutral (SiO2)
supports have been tested in the deoxygenation of fatty acids, although they showed
poor fatty acid conversions [27].
Relative to the solid acid, solid bases have been significantly used as catalysts or
supports in many fields of industrial chemical. In terms of catalytic deoxygenation,
these materials have revealed some interesting properties. For instance, King and
Olson found that the intramolecular carboxyl groups of 2-furoic acid and carbonates
can be directly removed via decarboxylation catalyzed by hydrotalcite-like solid bases
[28,29]. In addition, it is well known that the surface of solid bases possesses a large
number of coordinatively unsaturated sites (so-called oxygen vacancies), which can
activate oxygen atoms of fatty acid and thereby promote their removal [30,31].
Therefore, solid bases are considered potential catalyst supports for the HDO of
vegetable oils and their derivatives, and their feasibility has been confirmed in our
previous work [32] in which several supported Ni/MO-Al2O3 catalysts (M = Mg, Ca,
Ni, Cu, and Zn) were prepared for the HDO of oleic acid. These results revealed that
ZnO-Al2O3 composite is a promising support for highly efficient conversion of fatty
5

acids into n-alkanes because of its moderate base strength. In this sense, several
parameters including reaction time, reaction temperature, H2 pressure, and Ni loading
were investigated. According to the compositions of gas product, we found that the
oxygen atoms in oleic acid were mainly removed in the form of carbon monoxide
through a decarbonylation reaction. Furthermore, we carried out recycling
experiments of a Ni/ZnO-Al2O3 catalyst and its catalytic activity toward the
conversion of glycerol trioleate was determined.
The physico-chemical properties of ZnO-Al2O3 composite supports can be easily
modified by changing the Zn/Al ratio, which remarkably affects the overall catalytic
activity of these materials during HDO. Thus, this work focused on the effect of the
Zn/Al ratio on the catalytic deoxygenation of fatty acids. As expected, the Zn/Al ratio
played a key role in the catalytic deoxygenation activity, particularly in the
hydrogenation activity of the catalysts. The addition of Zn atoms in moderate amounts
can efficiently improve the dispersion of Ni species, increasing the effective contact
area of metallic Ni and eventually resulting in high conversions of oleic acid and
alkane yields. On the other hand, excessive addition of Zn atoms may lead to the
formation of a single ZnO phase in large amounts, and this component can react with
the fatty acid during the reaction to form zinc stearate decreasing the yield of alkane.
2. Experimental Section
2.1. Preparation of ZnO-Al2O3 supports
ZnO-Al2O3 supports were prepared through a hydrothermal synthesis process
followed by thermal decomposition at high temperature. Typically, m mmol of
6

.
.
Zn(NO3)2 6H2O, n mmol of Al(NO3)3 9H2O, and a certain amount of CO(NH2)2 were
dissolved into 40 mL of deionized water to form a colorless solution, where the sum
-
of m and n was 6.0 and the molar ratio [urea]/[NO3 ] was 3.0. The resulting solution
was subsequently transferred into a 100 mL Teflon-lined stainless autoclave and
heated at 180 C for 3 h. After that, the obtained precipitate was collected by filtration,
washed with deionized water until neutral pH, and then dried overnight in an oven at
80 C. Finally, the dry substance was heated in air from room temperature to 500 C
at a rate of 2 C/min and maintained for 4 h, leading to the formation of the
ZnO-Al2O3 support.
To investigate the effect of the Zn/Al ratio on the catalytic HDO activity, several
supports were prepared following the above procedure. Thus, the ratio was controlled
to be 1/3, 1/2, 1/1, 2/1, 3/1, and 5/1, and the corresponding supports were labeled as
Zn1Al3, Zn1Al2, Zn1Al1, Zn2Al1, Zn3Al1, and Zn5Al1, respectively.
2.2. Preparation of Ni/ZnO-Al2O3 catalysts
Ni/ZnO-Al2O3 catalysts were prepared by an incipient wetness impregnation
method and the procedure was performed as follows: 3.4 mmol of Ni(NO3)2∙6H2O
was dissolved in 2.7 mL of deionized water, and the solution was subsequently added
dropwise to 1.8 g of the as-prepared ZnO-Al2O3 support while agitating at room
temperature for 2 h. The obtained substance was then dried overnight at 80 C and
then calcined under flowing N2 (flow rate: 80 ml min-1) at 400 C for 4 h, followed by
a reduction at 500 C under flowing of H2 (flow rate: 80 ml min-1) for 4 h. The
heating rate for both the calcination and the reduction processes was 2 C min-1. The
7

obtained sample was labeled as Ni/ZnO-Al2O3 catalyst with a 10 wt.% Ni content.
The catalysts with different ZnO-Al2O3 supports were prepared and labeled as
Ni/Zn1Al3, Ni/Zn1Al2, Ni/Zn1Al1, Ni/Zn2Al1, Ni/Zn3Al1, and Ni/Zn5Al1.
2.3. Characterization of the materials
The crystalline structures of the supports were characterized by X-ray diffraction
(XRD) on a Bruker AXS-D8 advance powder diffractometer with a Cu Kα radiation
source (wavelength: 1.5406 Å) operating at 40 kV and 40 mA. The samples were
measured with a scanning rate of 4/min and a diffraction angle (2) ranging from 5
to 80.
The textural properties of the supports were measured by nitrogen
adsorption-desorption isotherms at - 196 C on a Quantachrome AutoSorb-6B
adsorption analyzer. Prior to the measurements, each sample was degassed under
vacuum at 140 C for 6 h. The specific surface area was calculated using the
Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) method, and the pore volumes and pore sizes were
determined by the Barrett-Joyner-Halenda (BJH) method from the desorption branch
of the isotherms.
Elemental analysis of the prepared catalysts were performed using inductively
coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) on a Leeman Labs Prodigy
spectrometer. The measured contents of nickel were compared to standard to
determine actual concentrations.
The reduction of the Ni species on the supports was investigated by hydrogen
temperature-programmed reduction (H2-TPR) measurements on a Micromeritics
8

AutoChem II 2920 chemisorption analyzer. Approximately 100 mg of the sample was
used for each measurement. Each sample was charged in a U-shaped quartz cell
reactor and pretreated under flowing Ar (flow rate: 20 ml min-1) at 300 C for 1 h
(ramp rate: 10 C min-1), and then cooled to 100 C. Afterwards, a mixture of 10 vol.%
H2/Ar was introduced into the sample tube at a flow rate of 20 ml∙min−1. These
conditions were maintained for 20 min, after which the sample was heated to 900 C
at a rate of 10 C∙min-1 and maintained at this temperature for 20 min, during which
the hydrogen consumption was measured with a thermal conductivity detector (TCD)
calibrated by reduction of fresh CuO.
The morphologies of the samples were observed on a Hitachi S-4800 field emission
scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) device with an accelerating voltage of 1.5
kV. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analyses was carried out on a
JEM-2100HR electron microscope with an accelerating voltage of 200 kV. The
reduced catalysts were ultrasonically dispersed in ethanol and dropped onto a
carbon-coated copper grid. At least 200 Ni particles were observed in order to
determine the Ni nanoparticle size distribution.
The active metal existing forms of the catalysts were analyzed by X-ray
photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) on an Escalab 250Xi Thermo Spectrometer
equipped with a monochromatic X-ray source of Al Kα under ultra-high vacuum (2-3
× 10−6 Pa) and a hemispherical analyzer. The XPS data from the regions related to the
C 1s, O 1s, and Ni 2p core levels were recorded for each sample. The obtained spectra
were fitted by mixed Gaussian-Lorentzian functions. The binding energies (BE) were
9

internally calibrated by the reference deposit C 1s binding energy (BE).
2.4. Activity tests and product analyses
The catalytic deoxygenation of oleic acid was carried out in a 100 mL batch
stainless autoclave furnished with a mechanical stirrer. In a typical reaction, 0.2 g of
fresh catalyst, 2.0 g of oleic acid, and 30.0 g of decalin were loaded in the autoclave.
Prior to the reaction, the reactor was purged three times with H2 to remove the inside
air and then pressurized to 2.5 MPa at ambient temperature. The reaction system was
subsequently heated to 280 C and maintained at this temperature for 360 min at a
stirring rate of 600 rpm. Finally, the reaction system was cooled to ambient
temperature, and the liquid products were collected for subsequent analysis.
The products in the gas phase were analyzed by gas chromatography mass
spectrometry (GC-MS) with a TCD and a HP-PLOT/Q column (30 m, 0.32 mm inner
diameter, 20 m film thickness). The liquid products were analyzed by GC-MS with a
flame ionization detector (FID) and a HP-INNOWAX column (30 m, 0.25 mm inner
diameter, 0.25 m film thickness). N-octadecane was used as an external standard for
the quantification of the liquid products. Besides, Fourier transform infrared
spectroscopy (FT-IR) spectra were recorded using a Nicolet 6700 spectrometer to
identify the -C(O)O- group in the liquid products. Considering that zinc stearate as a
by-product cannot be dissolved into decalin and analyzed by GC-MS, the amount of
zinc stearate was obtained by a gravimetric method. The generated zinc stearate can
be obtained by heating, centrifugation, washing, and drying processes.
3. Results and Discussion
10

3.1. Crystalline structures of the supports
Figure 1 shows the diffraction patterns of the Zn-Al composite precursors with
different Zn/Al ratios. As observed, the crystalline structures markedly changed as the
Zn/Al ratio increased. Specifically, in the case of the precursor with a Zn/Al ratio of
1/3 (Figure 1a), most of the diffraction peaks were assigned to the boehmite (AlOOH)
phase (JCPDS #21-1307), while only a very weak peak attributed to the Zn(OH)2
phase (JCPDS #24-1444) was observed, indicating that Zn atoms were well dispersed
into the boehmite phase. Increasing the Zn/Al ratio to 1/2 (Figure 1b) did not change
the crystalline structure of the precursor except for some slight differences in the
intensity of the diffraction peaks. At a Zn/Al ratio of 1/1 (Figure 1c), the diffraction
peaks of the boehmite phase nearly disappeared, and other diffraction peaks assigned
to the ZnAl2O4 phase (JCPDS #05-0669) appeared instead. These results suggest that
most of the Al atoms were bonded with Zn atoms through oxygen-bridged bonds to
directly form Zn-Al composite oxides under hydrothermal conditions. Meanwhile, the
excess Zn atoms unbonded to Al were spontaneously transformed to Zn4(CO3)(OH)6
2-
(JCPDS #11-0287) owing to the coexistence of CO3 and OH- anions in the system.
This result reveals that a Zn/Al ratio of ca. 1/1 is a boundary value for the formation
of well-dispersed Zn-Al composites with low crystallite size. When the Zn/Al ratio
exceeds this value, the excess Zn atoms nucleate, grow, and aggregate to form a single
Zn-containing phase such as Zn(OH)2 and Zn4(CO3)(OH)6 owing to the lack of Al
atoms, with this process being more pronounced with the amount of Zn atoms added.
Therefore, a further increase of the Zn/Al ratio led to higher diffraction intensities
11

without affecting the phase composition (Figures 1d-f).
Figure 2 shows the diffraction patterns of the samples obtained by heating the
above precursors at 500 C for 4 h. After the heat treatment, all precursors were
transformed into ZnO-Al2O3 composite oxides, and their crystalline structures varied
with the Zn/Al ratio. For instance, when the Zn/Al ratio was lower or equal to 1/1, the
samples mainly consisted of ZnAl2O4 and -Al2O3 phases (JCPDS #49-0134) (Figures
2a-c), with the latter phase undoubtedly originating from a boehmite phase
transformation via dehydration at high temperature. It is worth noting that diffraction
peaks corresponding to Zn-Al hydrotalcite-like compounds were not found in the
XRD patterns of their precursors, revealing that the ZnAl2O4 phase was not formed
upon thermal decomposition of hydrotalcite-like compounds. Considering the
compositions of these precursors, it is thought that a minor amount of the amorphous
ZnAl2O4 phase was generated during the precursor formation, and most of this phase
likely arose from a solid phase reaction between Zn(OH)2 and boehmite during the
heat treatment of the precursors. The intensity of the diffraction peaks assigned to the
ZnAl2O4 phase gradually increased with the Zn/Al ratio. When this ratio was higher
than 1/1, diffraction peaks corresponding to a ZnO phase (JCPDS #65-3411) were
identified and became more evident with a further increase in the Zn/Al ratio (Figures
2d-f). During this process, the amount of the ZnAl2O4 phase decreased accordingly
with the decrease of the Al content. Finally, the ZnAl2O4 phase was found to be highly
dispersed on ZnO, as its diffraction peaks were gradually covered by those of ZnO
and finally disappeared. The obtained supports mainly consisted of ZnO and ZnAl2O4
12

phases, with the ZnO phase being formed by Zn(OH)2 dehydration and
Zn4(CO3)(OH)6 decomposition.
3.2. Morphologies of the supports
Based on above XRD characterizations, the composition of the supports was
found to be closely dependent on the Zn/Al ratio. As the ratio was increased, the
composition changed from ZnAl2O4-Al2O3 to ZnO-ZnAl2O4 mixed oxide, and this
change should affect the morphology and microstructure of the supports. In view of
this, all supports were characterized by SEM (Figure 3). The support having lower Zn
content was found to be mainly constructed of small and unshaped particles in
mixture with a minor amounts of sheet-like structures (Figure 3a). An increase in the
Zn/Al ratio gradually increased the amount and the size of sheet-like structures
(Figures 3b and c). At Zn/Al ratios exceeding 1/1, these sheet-like structures markedly
changed both in size and shape (they became wider and thicker and their shape more
uniform). This change was highly consistent with the XRD characterization of the
precursors showing noticeable changes in the diffraction patterns and peak intensities
upon increasing the Zn/Al ratio from 1/1 to 2/1. Further increase of the Zn/Al ratio
changed the shape of these micro-sheets toward more regular, and the surface of these
particles became smoother (Figures 3e and f). As shown by with the patterns in Figure
2, the crystallites of ZnAl2O4 aggregated into larger irregular particles, while those of
ZnO preferentially grew into regular micro-sheets. These differences will affect the
textural properties (i.e., specific surface area, SSA, and pore volume, PV) of the
supports.
13

3.3. Textural properties of the supports
The textural properties of the supports were measured by a N2-adsorption method,
and the corresponding adsorption-desorption isotherms are displayed in Figure S1 in
the Supporting Information. All the isotherms showed hysteresis loops at relative
pressure above 0.4 and no distinct uptake at lower relative pressures, suggesting the
absence of micropores in these supports. The isotherms were of type IV for all the
supports except for Zn1Al3, which showed an isotherm type II. The isotherm shape
was form to shift from type II to type IV with the Zn/Al ratio. This evolution indicates
that the as-prepared supports are mesoporous materials, and their pore size decreased
with the Zn/Al ratio, as verified with the decreasing hysteresis loop areas.
Additionally, the hysteresis loops for all supports were of type H3, implying that the
pores mainly arose from the gaps between aggregates or agglomerates of particles
(e.g., plates or edged particles like cubes) [33]. This result was in agreement with the
SEM observations suggesting that the pores were formed via stacking of sheet-like
structures.
The pore structure parameters of the supports (SSA and PV) are listed in Table S1.
The SSA decreased with the Zn/Al ratio. The isotherms revealed that the pores were
made by the stacking of the secondary particles formed by the aggregation of the
primary crystallites. Thus, the particles with lower size may generate additional pores
providing higher SSA values, while the supports composed of larger secondary
particles such as Zn5Al1would present lower SSA. The SSA of the supports markedly
decreased with the Zn/Al ratio increasing from 1/1 to 2/1, in good agreement with the
14

observed changes in morphology and particle size. Since a further increase of the Zn
content did not change the size of the micro-sheets noticeably, the SSA of the supports
remained unchanged. In addition to the SSA, changes in the particle size affected the
PV of the supports. Thus, for a certain amount of solid powder, larger particles would
occupy more inner space, leading to lower PV. Both SSA and PV of the supports
decreased to various degrees after Ni loading, whereas the SSA remained unchanged
with the Zn/Al ratio (see Table 1).
3.4. Dispersion state and existing form of surface Ni species
The addition of Zn remarkable affected the SSA and the surface basicity of the
supports, leading to different dispersion states of Ni species onto these supports. As
seen from Figure 4, the average particle diameter of Ni species gradually increased
from 2.7 to 29.7 nm with the Zn/Al ratio, suggesting that the addition of Zn was
unfavorable for dispersion of Ni species. This phenomenon was induced by the
following two factors. First, larger Zn contents decreased the SSA of the supports, and
it is accepted that low SSA is unfavorable for the dispersion of active metals. Second,
Ni species preferably interacted with the acidic alumina support to form Ni-O-Al
bonds, with this interaction potentially inhibiting the migration and aggregation of Ni
species and eventually improving its dispersion. In our case, the addition of Zn
decreased the amount of acid sites and weakened the metal-support interaction,
decreasing the Ni dispersion. Remarkably, Zn2Al1, Zn3Al1, and Zn5Al1 had nearly
equal SSA values, although the Ni particle size on these supports increased with the
Zn/Al ratio. These results indicate that the amount of surface base sites more critically
15

determine the dispersion of the Ni species as compared to the SSA of the support.
In order to further investigate the underlying differences on the interaction of the Ni
species with the support, H2-TPR experiments were performed on the unreduced
Ni-based catalysts while varying the Zn/Al ratios (Figure 5). The first reduction peak
at ca. 260 C was attributed to a weakly interacting NiO phase, while the second peak
at 330-350 C was ascribed to the reduction of a strongly interacting NiO phase.
Furthermore, the additional peak over 500 C can be assigned to a Ni-aluminate phase
which is difficult to reduce [34]. This aluminate was likely formed via interaction of
the Ni species with surface Al-OH groups of the supports. The reduction peak shifted
toward lower temperatures with the Zn/Al ratio, indicating that the reduction of
surface Ni species became easier. This tendency confirms that the interaction between
the Ni species and the support was weakened upon Zn addition, which is in agreement
with the results of the dispersion state of Ni species. According to the area of the
reduction peak, the overall H2 consumption per mass for each sample up to 500 C
was calculated to be 0.07, 0.16, 0.42, 0.43, 0.47, and 0.47 mmol g-1 for Ni/Zn1Al3,
Ni/Zn1Al2, Ni/Zn1Al1, Ni/Zn2Al1, Ni/Zn3Al1, and Ni/Zn5Al1, respectively. These
results further corroborate that the addition of Zn atoms weakened the interaction of
Ni species with support, leading to easier reduction of these species. Complete Ni
reduction to metallic Ni would result in a H2 consumption of 1.7 mmol g-1. Since this
theoretical value is higher than those obtained experimentally, it can be induced that
only a minor fraction of the Ni species were reduced to metallic Ni under the
reduction conditions used herein.
16

XRD measurements were performed on the reduced Ni-based catalysts while
varying the Zn/Al ratios to preliminarily investigate the composition of the surface Ni
species (Figure 6). The standard pattern of metallic Ni (JCPDS #04-0850) presents
two characteristic diffraction peaks at 2 = 44.6 and 52.1, which are assigned to Ni
(111) and Ni (200), respectively. However, the peak corresponding to Ni (200) was
not observed herein. The peak corresponding to Ni (111) (nearby 2 = 44.5) was
partially covered by that of ZnAl2O4 (400) (2 = 44.8) considering the close
positions of both peaks and the higher amount of the ZnAl2O4 phase as compared to
metallic Ni. The color of the unreduced catalysts shifted from yellow-green to black
after the reduction, which indicates that metallic Ni was indeed generated. Based on
these analyses, it is believed that the generated metallic Ni was well dispersed on the
surface of the support, making it difficult to detect by XRD because of its very low
size.
Those catalysts having Zn/Al ratios lower than 1/1 showed diffraction patterns
similar to those of the corresponding supports. However, the characteristic peaks of
the NiO phase at 2 = 43.3 and 62.8 (JCPDS #44-1159) appeared for Zn/Al ratios
higher than 1/1 (Figures 6d-f). These results also suggested that increasing the Zn/Al
ratio is unfavorable for the dispersion of Ni species, with the black particles appearing
in the TEM images being likely composed of unreduced NiO and metallic Ni rather
than pure metallic Ni. As expected from the H2-TPR experiments, only the surface
layers of NiO crystallites were reduced, and thus the diffraction peaks corresponding
to metallic Ni were not observed in the XRD patterns. By means of the Scherrer
17

equation, the NiO crystallite size was calculated to be ca. 6-8 nm, which is
significantly lower than the particle size calculated by TEM. These results indicated
that these large particles are aggregates of several partially reduced NiO crystallites.
To further ascertain the existing form of the surface Ni species, XPS was employed
on all the reduced Ni-based catalysts (Figure 7a). The Ni 2p3/2 band was deconvoluted
in all cases into three peaks at binding energies of 851-860 eV, in which the peak at
851.8-853.4 eV was attributed to metallic Ni, while the other two peaks were assigned
to NiO species (i.e., pure NiO at 854.1-855.5 eV and Ni aluminate at 855.6-856.7 eV
[35-37]). The integral areas of the three peaks revealed the presence of large amounts
of Ni aluminate on the surface of the catalysts, although this phase was not detected
by XRD (Figure 7), probably because of its high dispersion. The binding energies of
the three peaks decreased in different degrees with the Zn/Al ratio, indicating that the
interaction of Ni species with the supports gradually decrease with this parameter, in
agreement with the H2-TPR results. The surface concentrations of metallic Ni
(calculated with the relative area of its characteristic peak, Figure 7b), increased with
the Zn/Al ratio reaching a maximum at Zn/Al = 2/1 and decreasing thereafter. This
trend was not in agreement with the H2-TPR calculations revealing larger amounts of
metallic Ni with the Zn/Al ratio. Considering that XPS only detects the near-surface
of the materials (i.e., testing depth is generally lower than 10 nm which is lower than
the particle size of the Ni species for Ni/Zn3Al1 and Ni/Zn5Al1), only a fraction of
the metallic Ni was detected. These results also indicate that a relatively large particle
size was unfavorable for the exposure of internal metallic Ni atoms, thus affecting the
18

hydrogenation ability of the catalysts.
3.5. Catalytic deoxygenation of oleic acid
In order to investigate the effect of the Zn/Al ratio on the overall catalytic activity,
oleic acid diluted with decalin was selected as a reactant to test the catalytic
deoxygenation behavior of the as-prepared Ni-based catalysts, and the liquid products
were qualitatively analyzed with FT-IR spectroscopy (Figure 8). Most of the
absorption peaks were attributed to the solvent except for those at v = 1712 and 1741
cm-1, which were assigned to the stretching vibration of the C=O bonds of the fatty
acid and the ester, respectively. In the case of the reactant, only the peak
corresponding to the carbonyl group in the fatty acid was observed in the FT-IR
spectrum. After the reaction with H2, this peak became smaller and finally
disappeared with the Zn/Al ratio, indicating that the addition of Zn favored the
conversion of the fatty acid. An ester product was first generated (at the expense of
the fatty acid) and then converted completely. In addition, some white substances
were found on the surface of the used catalysts with Zn/Al ratios of 2/1, 3/1, and 5/1,
and this substance was identified by FT-IR as zinc stearate (Figure S2). Other possible
products such as alkanes, alcohols, and aldehydes were not clearly identified from the
FT-IR spectra.
All the liquid products were quantitatively analyzed in detail to determine their
compositions and distributions by GC-MS, and the results are summarized in Table 2.
Because the double bonds in oleic acid can be easily saturated under the present
reaction conditions, high conversions (higher than 99 %) were obtained for all the
19

catalysts under study, although oxygen were not removed completely. In all the cases,
the liquid products were mainly composed of five components (i.e., alkane,
1-octadecanol, stearic acid, stearyl stearate, and zinc stearate) and, as expected, their
relative contents were closely dependent on the Zn/Al ratio of the support. A potential
product such as octadecanal was not detected, which may be attributed to its low
thermal stability and high reactivity. With respect to the gas phase (not shown), CO
was the main product (versus CO2 and CH4) and its amounts was dependent on the
amounts of C17 alkane. The generated CH4 was thought to be derived from the
reaction of CO or CO2 with H2 [25].
With regard to the target products, the alkane content (C17 + C18) first increased and
reached a maximum at Zn/Al = 2/1. Although this content then decreased to some
extent, it was still higher than that obtained from the catalyst with a Zn/Al ratio of 1/3,
indicating that the addition of Zn can promote the catalytic deoxygenation of oleic
acid with an optimum Zn/Al ratio of 2/1. The amount of C17-alkane in the target
product was higher than 0.9 for all the catalysts, indicating that the alkanes were
mainly produced via hydrodecarbonylation. Since the as-prepared catalysts were weak
acids that cannot catalyze alkane cracking/isomerization reactions (as zeolite-type
catalysts do), C17- and C18-alkane isomers or their cracking products were not found
among the products. To further optimize the Zn/Al ratio, the other two catalysts
(Zn/Al ratios of 1.5/1 and 2.5/1) were prepared and tested under the same reaction
conditions (Table S1). Both of them showed lower alkane yields than Ni/Zn2Al1,
confirming that 2/1 is the optimum Zn/Al.
20

Stearyl stearate, formed by esterification between 1-octadecanol and stearic acid
intermediates, was the main by-product at Zn/Al ratios lower than 1/1. Our previous
work confirmed that stearyl stearate was a very important intermediate, with most of
the alkane product being produced through its subsequent conversion (rather than
through the direct deoxygenation of fatty acids). Thus, the alkane yield was
proportional to the stearyl stearate conversion [32]. Because the conversion of stearyl
stearate to alkane involves a hydrogenolysis process, the catalysts are expected to
have a high hydrogenation activity. According to the H2-TPR results, the addition of
Zn weakened the interaction between the Ni species and the support facilitating the
formation of metallic Ni. Those catalysts having larger amounts of metallic Ni will
have superior hydrogenation activity. Therefore, stearyl stearate was not detected and
the content of alkane increased remarkably when the Zn/Al ratio was higher than 1/1.
In spite of this, the content of Zn should be kept to a lower level since, according to
XRD results, excess Zn atoms (uncoordinated with Al) are present in the final catalyst
in the form of separated ZnO phase that will readily react with the fatty acid to form
zinc stearate. Thus, the content of zinc stearate was found to be proportional to the
Zn/Al ratio.
3.6. Hydrodeoxygenation of stearyl stearate
The above reaction data show that the stearyl stearate residue in the products
markedly decreased with the Zn/Al ratio, which seems to indicate that increasing the
Zn/Al ratio could effectively enhance the hydrogenation activity of the catalysts and
the alkane yield. However, since the production of zinc stearate (favored by high
21

Zn/Al ratios) may change the final product distribution, this might affect the role of
Zn in the hydrogenation reaction. Thus, stearyl stearate was selected as a starting
material to investigate the effect of Zn on the final catalytic activity (Figure 9). The
conversion of stearyl stearate over the different catalysts decreased in the following
order Ni/Zn2Al1 > Ni/Zn1Al1 > Ni/Zn1Al2 > Ni/Zn3Al1 > Ni/Zn5Al1 > Ni/Zn1Al3,
this trend being closely related to their hydrogenation activity as the conversion of
stearyl stearate only depends on this parameter. This tendency was not in agreement
with the results in Table 2 showing higher hydrogenation activities for Ni/Zn3Al1 and
Ni/Zn5Al1 as compared to Ni/Zn1Al1 and Ni/Zn1Al2. This discrepancy is thought to
be related to the formation of zinc stearate. Considering that zinc stearate was directly
produced by the reaction between the fatty acid and the ZnO on the catalyst surface,
while stearyl stearate was produced via esterification of the fatty acid with the
1-octadecanol produced by fatty acid hydrogenation. Thus, zinc stearate was formed
prior to the stearyl stearate appearance. In the case of Ni/Zn3Al1 and Ni/Zn5/Al1, due
to the formation of zinc stearate, a large amount of fatty acid was consumed thereby
reducing the yield of stearyl stearate. Because zinc stearate was found to have a
higher reactivity relative to stearyl stearate, the moderate hydrogenation activities of
these two catalysts were enough to convert this intermediate, and thus stearyl stearate
was not detected and most zinc stearate was transformed into alkanes.
All the above liquid products from stearyl stearate were also analyzed by GC-MS,
and their compositions are listed in Table 3. Because the fatty acid cannot be obtained
from stearyl stearate, stearic acid and zinc stearate were not present in these products.
22

In this case, octadecanal was determined to be the main by-product, and
1-octadecanol was only detected in a trace amounts (< 0.5 wt.%). The hydrogenolysis
of stearyl stearate can be well described by a pseudo-first order kinetics equation, with
the rate constants being closely related to the concentration of surface metallic Ni in
the catalysts. As expected, increasing the Zn/Al ratio did not promote the
hydrogenolysis of stearyl stearate. Instead, excess Zn negatively affected this reaction,
even though higher Zn/Al ratios could lead to the formation of more metallic Ni.
When considering the TEM, H2-TPR, and XPS data, it was found that not only the
amount but also the particle size of surface metallic Ni affected the hydrogenation rate
of the catalysts. Weak metal-support interaction was confirmed to promote the
reduction of surface Ni species, resulting in more metallic Ni exposed on the catalyst
surface, more hydrogenation active sites and thus higher hydrogenation rates.
However, weaken interactions lead to the migration and aggregation of Ni species (i.e.,
increase of the particle size) which would be located in the bulk of these particles.
This would reduce the effective contact area of metallic Ni atoms with stearyl stearate,
eventually limiting the catalytic activity. Thus, Ni/Zn1Al1 and Ni/Zn1Al2 showed
higher alkane yields compared with Ni/Zn3Al1 and Ni/Zn5Al, although the former
catalysts contained a lower amount of metallic Ni. In the case of Ni/Zn1Al1 and
Ni/Zn2Al1, they showed nearly similar alkane yields depending on the concentration
of exposed metallic Ni. However, considering that during the HDO of vegetable oils
to alkanes large amounts of intermediate fatty acid will be produced, Ni/Zn2Al1 is
thought to be more suitable for this process.
23

In addition, the content of octadecanal increased with the Zn/Al ratio, indicating
that the addition of Zn inhibited the conversion of octadecanal. This may be also
related to the overall hydrogenation activity, although the specific effect of Zn cannot
be determined at present and need to be further investigated because of the different
conversions of stearyl stearate obtained.
4. Conclusion
The investigation of the effect of the Zn/Al ratio on the catalytic deoxygenation
of oleic acid showed that the addition of Zn led to the reduction of the SSA of the
supports while also weakening the metal-support interaction and decreasing the
dispersion of Ni species. This low dispersion promoted the migration and aggregation
of Ni species into large particles thereby limiting the exposure of metallic Ni atoms.
The concentration of surface accessible metallic Ni atoms and the final catalytic
activity (particularly hydrogenation) of the catalysts decreased with the Zn/Al ratio.
At a Zn/Al ratio of 2/1, the particle size of Ni species and the exposure degree of
metallic Ni atoms reached a balance, resulting in optimum deoxygenation activity and
maximum alkane yield (95.8 wt.%). Relatively low Zn/Al ratios may lead to strong
metal-support interaction, which makes the Ni species difficult to reduce to metallic
Ni and inhibits the conversion of oxygen-containing reactants.
Acknowledgement
Financial supports from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.
21506239; No. 21276263) are gratefully acknowledged. We also thank Dr. Y.P. Li
(College of Chemical Engineering, China University of Petroleum, Qingdao, P.R.
24

China) for TEM analysis.
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Figure captions
Figure 1. XRD patterns of Zn-Al composite precursors with different Zn/Al ratios: (a)
1/3, (b) 1/2, (c) 1/1, (d) 2/1 (e) 3/1, (f) 5/1.
Figure 2. XRD patterns of ZnO-Al2O3 supports with different Zn/Al ratios: (a) 1/3, (b)
1/2, (c) 1/1, (d) 2/1 (e) 3/1, (f) 5/1.
Figure 3. SEM images of ZnO-Al2O3 supports with different Zn/Al ratios: (a) 1/3, (b)
1/2, (c) 1/1, (d) 2/1 (e) 3/1, (f) 5/1.
Figure 4. TEM images of the reduced Ni-based catalysts with different Zn/Al ratios
and their histograms of Ni species size distribution (inset): (a) 1/3, (b) 1/2, (c) 1/1, (d)
2/1 (e) 3/1, (f) 5/1.
Figure 5. H2-TPR profiles of unreduced Ni-based catalysts with different Zn/Al ratios:
(a) 1/3, (b) 1/2, (c) 1/1, (d) 2/1 (e) 3/1, (f) 5/1.
Figure 6. XRD patterns of the Ni-based catalysts with different Zn/Al ratios: (a) 1/3,
(b) 1/2, (c) 1/1, (d) 2/1 (e) 3/1, (f) 5/1.
Figure 7. Ni 2p XPS spectra (A) and surface metallic Ni concentrations (B) of the
catalysts with different Zn/Al ratios.
Figure 8. IR spectra of the liquid products obtained from different catalysts: (a)
Ni/Zn1Al3, (b) Ni/Zn1Al2, (c) Ni/Zn1Al1, (d) Ni/Zn2Al1, (e) Ni/Zn3Al1, (f)
Ni/Zn5Al1. Reaction conditions: oleic acid (2.0 g), decalin (30.0 g), catalyst (0.2 g),
temperature (280 C), H2 pressure (2.5 MPa), and stirring at 600 r/min for 6 h.
Figure 9. Conversion of stearyl stearate over different catalysts versus reaction time:
(a) Ni/Zn1Al3, (b) Ni/Zn1Al2, (c) Ni/Zn1Al1, (d) Ni/Zn2Al1, (e) Ni/Zn3Al1, (f)
28

Ni/Zn5Al1. Reaction conditions: stearyl stearate (2.0 g), decalin (30.0 g), catalyst
(0.05 g), temperature (280 C), H2 pressure (2.5 MPa), and stirring at 600 r/min.
29