γ-Valerolactone Production from Levulinic Acid Hydrogenation Using Ni Supported Nanoparticles: Influence of Tungsten Loading and pH of Synthesis

γ-Valerolactone (GVL) has been considered an alternative as biofuel in the production of carbon-based chemicals; however, the use of noble metals and corrosive solvents has been a problem. In this work, Ni supported nanocatalysts were prepared to produce γ-Valerolactone from levulinic acid using methanol as solvent at a temperature of 170 °C utilizing 4 MPa of H₂. Supports were modified at pH 3 using acetic acid (CH₃COOH) and pH 9 using ammonium hydroxide (NH₄OH) with different tungsten (W) loadings (1%, 3%, and 5%) by the Sol-gel method. Ni was deposited by the suspension impregnation method. The catalysts were characterized by various techniques including XRD, N₂ physisorption, UV-Vis, SEM, TEM, XPS, H₂-TPR, and Pyridine FTIR. Based on the study of acidity and activity relation, Ni dispersion due to the Lewis acid sites contributed by W at pH 9, producing nanoparticles smaller than 10 nm of Ni, and could be responsible for the high esterification activity of levulinic acid (LA) to Methyl levulinate being more selective to catalytic hydrogenation. Products and by-products were analyzed by ¹H NMR. Optimum catalytic activity was obtained with 5% W at pH 9, with 80% yield after 24 h of reaction. The higher catalytic activity was attributed to the particle size and the amount of Lewis acid sites generated by modifying the pH of synthesis and the amount of W in the support due to the spillover effect.

Bimetallic M-Cu (M = Ag, Au, Ni) Nanoparticles Supported on γAl2O3-CeO2 Synthesized by a Redox Method Applied in Wet Oxidation of Phenol in Aqueous Solution and Petroleum Refinery Wastewater

Three bimetallic catalysts of the type M-Cu with M = Ag, Au and Ni supports were successfully prepared by a two-step synthesized method using Cu/Al2O3-CeO2 as the base monometallic catalyst. The nanocatalysts were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), temperature-programmed reduction of H2 (H2-TPR), N2 adsorption-desorption, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy with diffuse reflectance (DR-UV-Vis) techniques. This synthesized methodology allowed a close interaction between two metals on the support surface; therefore, it could have synthesized an efficient transition-noble mixture bimetallic nanostructure. Alloy formation through bimetallic nanoparticles (BNPs) of AgCuAlCe and AuCuAlCe was demonstrated by DR-UV-Vis, EDS, TEM and H2-TPR. Furthermore, in the case of AgCuAlCe and AuCuAlCe, improvements were observed in their reducibility, in contrast to NiCuAlCe. The addition of a noble metal over the monometallic copper-based catalyst drastically improved the phenol mineralization. The higher activity and selectivity to CO2 of the bimetallic gold-copper- and silver-copper-supported catalysts can be attributed to the alloy compound formation and the synergetic effect of the M-Cu interaction. Petroleum Refinery Wastewater (PRW) had a complex composition that affected the applied single CWAO treatment, rendering it inefficient.

Chemical and Structural Changes by Gold Addition Using Recharge Method in NiW/Al2O3-CeO2-TiO2 Nanomaterials

NiWAu trimetallic nanoparticles (NPs) on the surface of support Al2O3-CeO2-TiO2 were synthesized by a three-step synthetic method in which Au NPs were incorporated into presynthesized NiW/Al2O3-CeO2-TiO2. The recharge method, also known as the redox method, was used to add 2.5 wt% gold. The Al2O3-CeO2-TiO2 support was made by a sol-gel method with two different compositions, and then two metals were simultaneously loaded (5 wt% nickel and 2.5 wt% tungsten) by two different methods, incipient wet impregnation and ultrasound impregnation method. In this paper, we study the effect of Au addition using the recharge method on NiW nanomaterials supported on mixed oxides on the physicochemical properties of synthesized nanomaterials. The prepared nanomaterials were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, BET specific surface area, X-ray diffraction, diffuse reflectance spectroscopy in the UV-visible range and temperature-programmed desorption of hydrogen. The experimental results showed that after loading of gold, the dispersion was higher (46% and 50%) with the trimetallic nanomaterials synthesized by incipient wet impregnation plus recharge method than with impregnation plus ultrasound recharge method, indicating a greater number of active trimetallic (NiWAu) sites in these materials. Small-sized Au from NiWAu/ACTU1 trimetallic nanostructures was enlarged for NiWAu/ACT1. The strong metal NPs-support interaction shown for the formation of NiAl2O4, Ni-W-O and Ni-Au-O species simultaneously present in the surface of trimetallic nanomaterial probably plays an important role in the degree of dispersion of the gold active phase.

Effect of gold addition by the recharge method on silver supported catalysts in the catalytic wet air oxidation (CWAO) of phenol

Catalysts Ag/ZrO₂–CeO₂ and Au/ZrO₂–CeO₂ were synthesized by a deposition–precipitation method and Ag–Au/ZrO₂–CeO₂ was prepared using a recharge method for the second metal (Au). The materials were characterized by physisorption of N₂, XRD, ICP, UV-vis RDS, H2-TPR, XPS and TEM. The results obtained show that the specific areas for monometallic materials were 29–37 m² g⁻¹ and 27–74 m² g⁻¹ for bimetallics. The tetragonal crystal phase of ZrO₂ stabilizes when CeO₂ quantity increases. Using XPS an increment in Ce³⁺ species abundance was determined for bimetallic catalysts in contrast to the monometallic ones; according to the Ag 3d region, this metal oxidation was observed when augmenting the content of CeO₂ in the materials, and with Au the opposite effect was produced. It was determined by TEM, that the average size of the metallic particles was smaller at bimetallic catalysts due the preparation method. Catalytic activity was evaluated by CWAO of phenol, the Ag–Au/ZrO₂–CeO₂ catalyst with 20% wt of cerium reached a degradation of 100% within an hour, being the most active catalyst. Maleic, formic and oxalic acid were identified as reaction intermediates; and at the end of the reaction acetic acid was identified as the main by-product, because it is the most refractory and the conditions for oxidation must be more severe.

Addition of gold changed the properties of silver monometallic catalysts by inhibiting the low formation of intermediates and changed of reaction route by formic acid to CO₂ and water. Furthermore, the bimetallic catalyst showed in the reuse cycles the better stability in CWAO of phenol.

Treatment of phenol by catalytic wet air oxidation: a comparative study of copper and nickel supported on γ-alumina, ceria and γ-alumina–ceria

Cu, Ni, CuO and NiO catalysts, prepared by wet impregnation with urea and supported on γ-Al₂O₃, CeO₂, and Al₂O₃–CeO₂, were evaluated for Catalytic Wet Air Oxidation (CWAO) of phenol in a batch reactor under a milder condition (120 °C and 10 bar O₂). The synthesized samples, at their calcined and/or their reduced form, were characterized by XRD, H₂-TPR, N₂ adsorption–desorption, SEM-EDS and DR-UV-Vis to explain the differences observed in their catalytic activity towards the studied reaction. The influence of the support on the efficiency of CWAO of phenol at 120 °C and 10 bar of pure oxygen has been examined and compared over nickel and copper species. The SEM-EDS results reveal that the spherical crystalline Cu and Ni were successfully deposited on the surface of γ-Al₂O₃, CeO₂, Al₂O₃–CeO₂ within 16–90 nm and that they were highly homogeneously dispersed. It was found that catalysts prepared from impregnation solutions of Cu(NO₃)₂·3H₂O and Ni(NO₃)₂·6H₂O with urea addition had different textural characteristics and degrees of dispersion of Cu and Ni species. The urea addition in the traditional wet impregnation method was essential to improve the reducibility and degree of dispersion in Ni, and to a lesser extent, in Cu. According to the characterization analysis of H₂-TPR and UV-VIS RD a structure–activity relationship can be determined. The chemical oxygen demand (COD) and GC analyses confirmed the effect of calcined and reduced species for Cu and Ni applied to the catalytic oxidation of phenol, showing their significant impact in the final performance of the catalyst.

Influence of the calcination and reduction treatment effects used to activate catalysts on the global catalytic performance on phenol oxidation over different supports.

Silver nanoparticles supported on zirconia–ceria for the catalytic wet air oxidation of methyl tert-butyl ether

In this work Ag nanoparticles supported on ZrO₂–CeO₂ promoted with different amounts of CeO₂ were synthesized by deposition–precipitation method in order to test the Catalytic Wet Air Oxidation (CWAO) of Methyl Tert-Butyl Ether (MTBE).