Enhanced adsorption properties of bimetallic RuCo catalyst for the hydrodeoxygenation of phenolic compounds and raw lignin-oil

The synergistic effect of two metal species in bimetallic catalysts can promote the catalytic performances significantly, and the enhanced adsorption properties by the interaction between two metal species play an important role. In this study, we investigated the hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) performance of a bimetallic RuCo/SiO2-ZrO2 catalyst, paying close attention to its adsorption properties based on the experimental and modeling study. RuCo catalyst presented a strong interaction between two metal species and electrons transfer from Ru to Co, which led to a higher spin-up d-band center value of surface atoms and thereby a different adsorption property from the monometallic catalysts. The good adsorption of hydrogen and substrate in RuCo catalyst played a crucial role on triggering the occurrence of HDO reaction for a better performance, which was also confirmed by the DFT calculation. This catalyst performed well on the HDO of guaiacol, other phenolic compounds and raw lignin-oil. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.