Structure-sensitive hydro-conversion of oleic acid to aviation-fuel-range-alkanes over alumina-supported nickel catalyst

A highly active and stable gamma-Al2O3-supported nickel nanoparticles catalyst (prepared by atomic layer deposition, ALD) was employed for the hydro-conversion of oleic acid to aviation-fuel-range-alkanes. The activity evaluation and characterization results suggested that this process is a structure-sensitive one for which step sites are more active than terrace sites. Ni(ALD)/Al2O3 catalyst enriched in Ni step sites thus presented high deoxygenation and hydrogenolysis activity. Additionally, Ni(ALD)/Al2O3 catalyst displayed high stability with only 6.5% drop in conversion after 10 h run owing to the development of strong metal-support interactions. After regeneration, the catalytic activity was recovered completely.