Activated carbon supported bimetallic catalysts with combined catalytic effects for aromatic nitro compounds hydrogenation under mild conditions

Non-noble nickel catalysts have been widely studied and tried in hydrogenation, however the problem of nickel particle sintering is more and more common in high-loaded nickel catalysts. A series of highly dispersed bimetallic Ni-M/AC (M = Cu, Co, Fe or Zn) catalysts were prepared by incipient wetness impregnation methods and applied in 1-nitronaphthalene hydrogenation to 1-naphthylamine under mild reaction conditions. The prepared catalysts were characterized by XRD, BET, H-2-TPR, TEM, HRTEM, HAADF-STEM, XPS, ICP, FT-IR and H-2 chemisorption. The results show that the introduction of the metal promoter inhibits the sintering of the nickel and enhances the reducibility of the catalysts, leading to higher ratio of effective Ni on the surface of the support, especially for Ni-Zn/AC sample. Moreover, the results of XPS indicate that the electron donating effect of Cu promoter increases surface electronic density of Ni, as a result, the electron-rich Ni might be produced because of the interfacial electronic effect, which favors the desorption and further impedes the hydrogenation of N-naphthylhydroxylamine. Ni-Zn/AC-350 with smaller nickel particles, better dispersion and larger content of effective Ni degrees presents the best catalytic performance in 1-nitronaphthalene hydrogenation to 1-naphthylamine under mild reaction conditions, it gives 100% conversion of 1-nitronaphthalene and 96.82% selectivity to 1-naphthylamine under 0.6 MPa and 90 degrees C for 5 h. Additionally, superior performances are also obtained in hydrogenation reactions of nitrobenzene, chloronitrobenzene, 1,5-dinitronaphthalene and 1,8-dinitronaphthalene over Ni-Zn/AC catalysts. With good hydrogenation activity the catalyst shows, the application prospect in industrial production of aromatic amine from aromatic nitro compounds has been becoming more and more extension.