Design of Ni/SiO2-C catalysts for glycerol hydrogenolysis: Effect of nickel precursor and calcination atmosphere

GATTI, MARTÍN N.; PEREZ, FEDERICO M.; VAN DER HORST, JULIANA LÓPEZ; GIANGIORDANO, FLORENCIA VOLPE; POMPEO, FRANCISCO; SANTORI, GERARDO F.

Molecular Catalysis

Elsevier

Año: 2025 vol. 586

2468-8231

In this work, Ni catalysts supported on a SiO2–C (SC) material were prepared using different metal precursors (NiCl2⋅6H2O, Ni(CH3COO)2⋅4H2O and Ni(NO3)2⋅6H2O) and calcination atmospheres (Ar, air and N2), to be applied in the hydrogenolysis of glycerol in liquid phase. The thermal decomposition of the precursors was studied by in situ TGA-FTIR, XRD and TPR, which allowed the determination of the Ni species formed and their degree of interaction with the support. After activation in H2 flow, the reduced catalysts were characterized by XRD and H2 chemisorption, which allowed the determination of their crystalline structure and particle size. All catalysts showed activity in the hydrogenolysis reaction with high selectivity to 1,2-propylene glycol (80–90 %) and low selectivity to C–C bond cleavage products. The type of precursor and calcination atmosphere were found to influence Ni dispersion and Turnover Frequency (TOF) values, obtaining a correlation between catalytic activity and metal particle size. The results show that the TOF increases with increasing Ni particle size in the range of 2 to 17 nm. These results suggest that the hydrogenolysis of glycerol over Ni catalysts is a structure sensitive reaction