Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Hydrothermal catalytic conversion of oleic acid to heptadecane over Ni/ZrO2

Journal Article · · Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [1]
  1. Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO (United States)
  2. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
  3. Harbin Institute of Technology (China)
  4. Alder Fuels, Washington, D.C. (United States)

There is growing interest in the substitution of expensive noble metal catalysts with low-cost earth-abundant metals in applications targeting biofuels production from waste organic feedstocks. Here, nickel (Ni) catalysts supported on zirconium dioxide (ZrO2), both with and without copper (Cu) as a co-metal, were tested in hydrothermal reactions of unsaturated and saturated C18 fatty acids as models for waste oil feedstocks. In contrast to recent reports, this study showed no enhancement of nickel's activity for fatty acid conversion to alkane products when Cu was present. Ni/ZrO2 prepared by metal coprecipitation methods converted 100% of oleic acid with 25% selectivity to heptadecane after 5h of reaction at 350 °C using methanol as a hydrogen donor source, increasing to 41% heptadecane after 20 h. Lower yields were observed with catalysts prepared by wet impregnation and using alternative hydrogen donor sources (glycerol, formic acid). Greater selectivity to heptadecane was also observed at higher temperatures (370 °C) and when the initial fatty acid had greater saturation. Longer term exposure to hydrothermal media led to metal sintering and catalyst deactivation. Findings support a path forward to the development of earth-abundant metal catalysts for the upgrading of waste organic feedstocks.

Research Organization:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
National Science Foundation (NSF)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC36-08GO28308
OSTI ID:
1993431
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA-5100-87064; MainId:87839; UUID:7713e8e7-dde7-42c4-9bb2-b80086221977; MainAdminID:70084
Journal Information:
Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances, Journal Name: Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances Vol. 10; ISSN 2772-4166
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (71)

Kinetically Controlled Coprecipitation for General Fast Synthesis of Sandwiched Metal Hydroxide Nanosheets/Graphene Composites toward Efficient Water Splitting journal November 2017
Catalytic hydrothermal gasification of biomass journal January 2008
Hydrothermal Decarboxylation and Hydrogenation of Fatty Acids over Pt/C journal January 2011
Decarboxylation of stearic acid over Ni/MOR catalysts journal October 2019
Comparative analysis of waste vegetable oil versus transesterified waste vegetable oil in diesel blend as alternative fuels for compression ignition engine journal July 2020
TPR studies of the effects of preparation conditions on supported nickel catalysts journal October 1990
Life cycle assessment of a catalytic converter for passenger cars journal October 2001
Highly active and stable Ni/Ce–ZrO2 catalyst for H2 production from methane journal March 2002
Hydrogenolysis of glycerol to propylene glycol in continuous system without hydrogen addition over Cu-Ni catalysts journal January 2018
Aqueous-phase reforming of methanol over nickel-based catalysts for hydrogen production journal November 2017
Conversion of higher fatty acids or higher fatty acid esters to long-chain alkanes by acid added metal catalyst under mild hydrothermal conditions journal January 2022
Bio-oil upgrading with catalytic pyrolysis of biomass using Copper/zeolite-Nickel/zeolite and Copper-Nickel/zeolite catalysts journal May 2019
Ni-containing Cu/SiO2 catalyst for the chemoselective synthesis of ethanol via hydrogenation of dimethyl oxalate journal November 2016
Hydrogen production via aqueous-phase reforming of methanol over nickel modified Ce, Zr and La oxide supports journal April 2018
Evaluation of a rapid method for the quantitative analysis of fatty acids in various matrices journal November 2008
Mechanistic details of methane dry reforming on copper-nickel bimetallic surfaces journal January 2020
Advances in biotechnological applications of waste cooking oil journal December 2021
Circular economy approach of enhanced bifunctional catalytic system of CaO/CeO2 for biodiesel production from waste loquat seed oil with life cycle assessment study journal May 2021
Hydrothermal decarboxylation of unsaturated fatty acids over PtSn x / C catalysts journal September 2015
Hydrothermal catalytic deoxygenation of palmitic acid over nickel catalyst journal February 2016
Efficient and stable Cu-Ni/ZrO2 catalysts for in situ hydrogenation and deoxygenation of oleic acid into heptadecane using methanol as a hydrogen donor journal October 2018
Effect of operating parameters on the selective catalytic deoxygenation of palm oil to produce renewable diesel over Ni supported on Al2O3, ZrO2 and SiO2 catalysts journal December 2020
The significant role of oxygen vacancy in Cu/ZrO2 catalyst for enhancing water–gas-shift performance journal January 2014
Influence of the support structure and composition of Ni–Cu-based catalysts on hydrogen production by methanol steam reforming journal August 2015
A review of catalytic aqueous-phase reforming of oxygenated hydrocarbons derived from biorefinery water fractions journal July 2016
Steam reforming of phenol-ethanol to produce hydrogen over bimetallic Ni Cu catalysts supported on sepiolite journal November 2017
Activity and coke formation of nickel and nickel carbide in dry reforming: A deactivation scheme from density functional theory journal March 2014
Dielectric properties of edible oils and fatty acids as a function of frequency, temperature, moisture and composition journal September 2008
Biodiesel production from waste oil feedstocks by solid acid catalysis journal November 2008
Hydrogen rich gas production via supercritical water gasification of sugarcane bagasse using unpromoted and copper promoted Ni/CNT nanocatalysts journal March 2015
Climate policies for freight transport: Energy and emission projections through 2050 journal June 2021
Controlling Heterogeneous Catalysis with Organic Monolayers on Metal Oxides journal October 2021
Role of Solvent in Catalytic Conversion of Oleic Acid to Aviation Biofuels journal June 2017
Recent Advances in Hydroliquefaction of Biomass for Bio-oil Production Using In Situ Hydrogen Donors journal June 2020
Catalytic Decarboxylation and Aromatization of Oleic Acid over Ni/AC without an Added Hydrogen Donor journal June 2018
Dispersed Nickel Boosts Catalysis by Copper in CO2 Hydrogenation journal July 2020
Transfer Hydrogenation of Fatty Acids on Cu/ZrO2: Demystifying the Role of Carrier Structure and Metal–Support Interface journal July 2020
Nickel: The “Spirited Horse” of Transition Metal Catalysis journal February 2015
MOF-Derived Co3O4 Nanoparticles Catalyzing Hydrothermal Deoxygenation of Fatty Acids for Alkane Production journal September 2022
Hydrothermal Catalytic Deoxygenation of Fatty Acid and Bio-oil with In Situ H2 journal February 2018
Influence of ZrO 2 Structure and Copper Electronic State on Activity of Cu/ZrO 2 Catalysts in Methanol Synthesis from CO 2 journal September 2014
Catalytic Deoxygenation of Fatty Acids and Their Derivatives journal January 2007
Production of Synthetic Diesel by Hydrotreatment of Jatropha Oils Using Pt−Re/H-ZSM-5 Catalyst journal April 2010
Chemical Processing in High-Pressure Aqueous Environments. 8. Improved Catalysts for Hydrothermal Gasification journal May 2006
Efficient Conversion of Cellulose to Levulinic Acid by Hydrothermal Treatment Using Zirconium Dioxide as a Recyclable Solid Acid Catalyst journal June 2014
Catalytic Reactivity of CuNi Alloys toward H 2 O and CO Dissociation for an Efficient Water–Gas Shift: A DFT Study journal December 2011
Role of Composition and Geometric Relaxation in CO2 Binding to Cu–Ni Bimetallic Clusters journal December 2013
Synthesis of acetic acid via methanol hydrocarboxylation with CO2 and H2 journal May 2016
Synergistic geometric and electronic effects for electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide using gold–copper bimetallic nanoparticles journal September 2014
Directly transforming copper (I) oxide bulk into isolated single-atom copper sites catalyst through gas-transport approach journal August 2019
Nickel-catalysed asymmetric hydrogenation of oximes journal June 2022
A war running on fossil fuels journal June 2022
Unraveling the surface state and composition of highly selective nanocrystalline Ni–Cu alloy catalysts for hydrodeoxygenation of HMF journal January 2017
In situ hydrogenation and decarboxylation of oleic acid into heptadecane over a Cu–Ni alloy catalyst using methanol as a hydrogen carrier journal January 2018
Ultrasmall Ni nanoparticles embedded in Zr-based MOFs provide high selectivity for CO 2 hydrogenation to methane at low temperatures journal January 2018
Kinetics and mechanism for hydrothermal conversion of polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) for wastewater valorization journal January 2019
Metal oxide supported Ni-impregnated bifunctional catalysts for controlling char formation and maximizing energy recovery during catalytic hydrothermal liquefaction of food waste journal January 2021
Comparative life cycle assessment of NAD(P)H regeneration technologies journal January 2021
High-temperature adsorption of carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon gases over nickel and platinum catalysts journal January 1998
Thermochemical biofuel production in hydrothermal media: A review of sub- and supercritical water technologies journal January 2008
Catalytic hydrothermal deoxygenation of palmitic acid journal January 2010
Liquid-phase catalytic transfer hydrogenation and cyclization of levulinic acid and its esters to γ-valerolactone over metal oxide catalysts journal January 2011
Hydrothermal catalytic processing of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids to hydrocarbons with glycerol for in situ hydrogen production journal January 2014
War and the Politics of Energy and Climate Change journal April 2022
Aerobic granular sludge: characterization, mechanism of granulation and application to wastewater treatment journal October 2010
Modelling the Sintering of Nickel Particles Supported on γ-Alumina under Hydrothermal Conditions journal December 2020
Continuous Catalytic Deoxygenation of Waste Free Fatty Acid-Based Feeds to Fuel-Like Hydrocarbons Over a Supported Ni-Cu Catalyst journal January 2019
Fatty Acids Composition of Vegetable Oils and Its Contribution to Dietary Energy Intake and Dependence of Cardiovascular Mortality on Dietary Intake of Fatty Acids journal June 2015
In-Situ Synthesis and Characterization of Biodegradable Estolides via Epoxidation from Canola Biodiesel journal October 2018
Liquefaction of Biomass and Upgrading of Bio-Oil: A Review journal June 2019
Synthesis and characterization of biodegradable palm palmitic acid based bioplastic journal June 2021

Similar Records

In situ hydrogenation and decarboxylation of oleic acid into heptadecane over a Cu–Ni alloy catalyst using methanol as a hydrogen carrier
Journal Article · Fri Oct 13 00:00:00 EDT 2017 · Green Chemistry · OSTI ID:1425099

Anaerobic degradation of linoleic oleic acids
Conference · Thu Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 1999 · OSTI ID:20014818

Transfer of oleic acid between albumin and phospholipid vesicles
Journal Article · Tue Dec 31 23:00:00 EST 1985 · Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.; (United States) · OSTI ID:6154135