| Abstract: | The effect of ethanedioic acid(Ed A) functionalization on Al_2O_3 supported Ni catalyst was studied on the hydrodeoxygenation(HDO), isomerization, kinetics and Arrhenius parameters of octadec-9-enoic acid(OA) into biofuel in this report. This was achieved via synthesis of two catalysts; the first, nickel alumina catalyst(Ni/Al_2O_3) was via the incorporation of inorganic Ni precursor into Al_2O_3; the second was via the incorporation nickel oxalate(Ni Ox) prepared by functionalization of Ni with Ed A into Al_2O_3 to obtain organometallic Ni Ox/Al_2O_3 catalyst. Their characterization results showed that Ni species present in Ni/Al_2O_3 and Ni Ox/Al_2O_3 were 8.2% and 9.3%, respectively according to the energy dispersive X-ray result. Ni Ox/Al_2O_3 has comparably higher Ni content due to the Ed A functionalization which also increases its acidity and guarantees high Ni dispersion with weaker metal-support-interaction leading to highly reducible Ni as seen in the X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, TPR and Raman spectroscopy results. Their activities tested on the HDO of OA showed that Ni Ox/Al_2O_3 did not only display the best catalytic and reusability abilities, but it also possesses isomerization ability due to its increased acidity. The Ni Ox/Al_2O_3 also has the highest rate constants evaluated using pseudo-first-order kinetics,but the least activation energy of 176 k J/mol in the biofuel formation step compared to 244 k J/mol evaluated when using Ni/Al_2O_3. The result is promising for future feasibility studies toward commercialization of catalytic HDO of OA into useful biofuel using organometallic catalysts. |
