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Abstract

Hydrogenation reactions in water at elevated temperatures are challenging for heterogeneous catalyst. Thus, we present a simple, cheap, scalable, and sustainable approach for synthesizing an efficient and water-tolerant Ni catalyst supported on highly porous nitrogen-doped carbon (NDC) in pellet shape. The performance of this catalyst was evaluated in the aqueous-phase hydrogenation of lignocellulosic biomass-derived compounds, i.e., glucose (Glu), xylose (Xyl) and vanillin (V), using a continuous-flow system. The prepared 35 wt.- Ni on NDC catalyst exhibited a high catalytic performance in all three different aqueous-phase hydrogenation reactions, i.e., conversion of Glu, Xyl and V was 96.3 mol, 85 mol and 100 mol and yield of sorbitol (Sor), xylitol (Xyt) and 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol (MMP) was 82 mol, 62 mol and 100 mol, respectively. This high activity was attributed to heterojunction effects stabilizing and adjusting the homogenously dispersed Ni nanoparticles on the surface of NDC. Changing the electron density in the Nickel nanoparticle allows high performance of the catalyst under long time of stream (7 to 30 h) with minimized Ni leaching.