Kinetics of the in−situ hydrogenation of phenol with formic acid as a hydrogen source

Highly active phenolic compounds in biomass pyrolysis oil are an important factor for limiting the utilization of the biofuel. The catalytic hydrogenation of phenolic compounds is considered to be an effective method for reforming bio−oil. Pd/CB (carbon black), which was synthesized by using a facile impregnated method, is found to be an effective catalyst for the in-situ hydrogenation of phenol (a representative model compound of bio−oil) using FA as a hydrogen source to produce cyclohexanone. A 98.99% of the conversion of phenol and 90.20% of the selectivity of cyclohexanone were obtained under the optimized reaction conditions. The catalyst also showed excellent stability after three recycled process. The catalytic kinetics study of the in−situ hydrogenation of phenol was investigated using Power−Rate Law model and Langmuir−Hinshelwood model. The Langmuir−Hinshelwood model fit well to the experimental data and the apparent activation energies (Ea) was 50.96 kJ mol−1.