Hydrogenolysis of cellulose to valuable chemicals over activated carbon supported mono- and bimetallic nickel/tungsten catalysts

The hydrogenolysis of cellulose was systematically investigated at 488 K and under 65 bar H2 in the absence of a catalyst and over six different catalytic systems containing nickel and/or tungsten on activated carbon (AC) in order to understand the role of individual active components (AC, W/AC, Ni/AC, a physical mixture of Ni/AC + W/AC, and two differently prepared Ni/W/AC catalysts) with respect to the product distribution wherein polyols (e.g. ethylene glycol (EG), propylene glycol, and sorbitol) are highly valuable chemicals. Without a catalyst and when using only AC, a hydrochar, due to hydrothermal carbonization of cellulose, was obtained. Although the catalyst W/AC was effective for the degradation of cellulose (high conversion of 90%) and facilitates C–C bond cleavage, selective production of any product was not possible, and the carbon efficiency (CEL) is the lowest (9.1%). Also, with highly dispersed Ni on AC the polyol yield was only 5.3%. The desired behavior showed Ni/W/AC provided its preparation occurs by a two-step incipient wetness (IW) technique. Starting with a remarkably high cellulose/catalyst ratio of 10, a cellulose conversion of 88.4%, CEL of 78.4% and EG yield of 43.7% were achieved (overall polyol yield = 62.1%). Drastically lower yields towards EG by an order of magnitude and decreased CEL were obtained by a co-impregnated Ni/W/AC catalyst and the Ni/AC + W/AC mixture. By the detailed analysis via XRD, TPR and CO chemisorption, it can be concluded that in the Ni/W/AC catalyst, after the first IW step of the activated carbon with ammonium metatungstate hydrate and the following reduction in H2 up to 1128 K, metallic tungsten was formed. This leads, in combination with the hydrogenation properties of nickel introduced in the second IW step, to a virgin bimetallic catalyst, i.e. before the hydrogenolysis starts, in which both components must be metallic. This is a prerequisite for high polyol production. Finally, varying the AC type, high space–time-yields up to 2.5 g polyols (gcatalyst h)−1 were obtained. A slight deactivation after two runs followed by a strong decrease of polyol yield in the next two runs was observed. Leaching and structural changes on the catalyst surface (formation of NiWO4) are mainly responsible for deactivation.