Hydrogenolysis of lignin model compounds into aromatics with bimetallic Ru-Ni supported onto nitrogen-doped activated carbon catalyst

Lignin is the most abundant and renewable resources for production of natural aromatics. In this paper, new bimetallic catalytic system of Ru and Ni supported onto nitrogen-doped activated carbon (Ru-NiAC/N) was developed and its performances on hydrogenolysis of lignin model compounds under mild reaction conditions (1.0 MPa, 230 degrees C, in aqueous) were investigated. The results indicate that Ru-Ni-AC/N was a highly active, selective and stable catalyst for the conversion of lignin model compounds into aromatics, e.g. phenol, benzene and their derivatives. As verified by BET, XRD, HRTEM, XPS, H-2-TPR and ICP-MS, the strong synergistic effects between i) Ru and Ni and ii) metals and N-groups were contributed to its excellent aromatics selectivity. What's more, the introduction of electron rich N atoms on AC was beneficial to the stabilization of metal particles, which greatly enhanced the durability of the catalyst. (C) 2017 Published by Elsevier B.V.