Decomposition of benzyl phenyl ether over char-supported Ni: The effect of char structures

Char-supported metals as catalysts has attracted much attention due to the renewability and structural controllability of char. To understand the effect of char physicochemical structures on the activities of itself and it-supported metal, decomposition of a α−O−4 lignin model compound (benzyl phenyl ether, BPE) over various char-supported Ni catalysts was studied at 400 °C, in which the char supports were prepared at 400 °C, 600 °C, and 1000 °C, respectively. The results showed that the conversion of BPE over the original chars decreased from 17.63% to 7.79% when the preparation temperature of char increased from 400 °C to 1000 °C, while an opposite trend was found for the char-supported Ni, particularly full conversion of BPE was realized when char prepared at 1000 °C was used as the carrier. In addition to the catalysis of Ni, the introduction of Ni improved the graphitization degree and specific surface area of the char support, thus promoting the breakage of Cα−O in BPE to mainly generate phenol and toluene. The synergistic effect of char support and Ni on BPE decomposition was demonstrated.