Synergistic effect of bimetallic Fe-Ni supported on hexagonal mesoporous silica for production of hydrocarbon-like biofuels via deoxygenation under hydrogen-free condition

• Bimetallic Fe-Ni successfully supported on mesoporous HMS for DO. • Smaller crystallite size of NiFe 2 O 4 in FeNi/HMS increases the triolein conversion. • Formation of Si-O-Fe-O-Ni bonding from NiFe 2 O 4 has improved DO. • Synergistic of NiO and NiFe 2 O 4 is the main active species for DO. • Surface area and acidity contributed to catalytic activity and selectivity. The need to explore a sustainable manner to produce hydrocarbon-like biofuel has attracted tremendous interest. A series of bimetallic catalysts comprised of Fe and Ni with different Ni loadings supported on hexagonal mesoporous silica (HMS) were synthesized for the production of hydrocarbon-like biofuel via deoxygenation (DO) reaction without the use of external hydrogen. The bimetallic 10Fe40Ni/HMS catalyst possesses a high conversion (96.1%) and selectivity towards C 8 -C 20 hydrocarbon (91.8%) during the DO reaction. This is because the finely dispersed Fe and Ni consisting of NiO and NiFe 2 O 4 demonstrate strong acidity along with higher amount of Brönsted-Lewis acid properties. The DO reaction of triglycerides with bimetallic Fe and Ni supported on HMS is a sustainable process to produce hydrocarbon biofuel.