Octadecanol Production from Methyl Stearate by Catalytic Transfer Hydrogenation over Synergistic Co/HAP Catalysts

As a potential alternative for fossil feedstocks, renewable natural oils are highly desirable for producing fuels or high added-value chemicals. Herein, catalytic transfer hydrogenation of methyl stearate to octadecanol using methanol and water as hydrogen donors was investigated over Co/hydroxyapatite (HAP) catalysts synthesized by distinct methods. Multi-characterizations revealed that the strong interaction between Co and the HAP support of the Co/HAP catalysts could enhance the electron transferability, resulting in the excellent methyl stearate conversion (94.8%) and octadecanol selectivity (67.7%) at 290 degrees C in 5 h. The characterizations and density functional theory (DFT) calculations confirmed that the combined Co-0/Co delta+ active sites could synergistically boost the generation of H-2 and the hydrogenation of methyl stearate in the methanol/water system. In addition, the effects of various reaction conditions (e.g., the amount of methanol, reaction temperature, reaction time, and catalyst loading) were investigated in detail to understand the plausible reaction pathways. The results may have guiding significance on designing catalysts for efficient conversion of fatty acid methyl esters.

Automated summary

In this study, Co/hydroxyapatite (HAP) catalysts were synthesized by different methods and used for the catalytic transfer hydrogenation of methyl stearate to octadecanol using methanol and water as hydrogen donors. The strong interaction between Co and the HAP support enhanced electron transferability, resulting in high conversion and selectivity. The combined Co-0/Co delta+ active sites were found to synergistically boost H-2 generation and hydrogenation of methyl stearate in the methanol/water system, with potential implications for designing catalysts for efficient conversion of fatty acid methyl esters.