Nitrogen-Doped Ordered Mesoporous Carbon Supported Bimetallic PtCo Nanoparticles for Upgrading of Biophenolics

Abstract

Hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) is an attractive route for the upgrading of bio-oils produced from lignocellulose. Current catalysts require harsh conditions to effect HDO, decreasing the process efficiency in terms of energy and carbon balance. Herein we report a novel and facile method for synthesizing bimetallic PtCo nanoparticle catalysts (ca. 1.5 nm) highly dispersed in the framework of nitrogen-doped ordered mesoporous carbon (NOMC) for this reaction. We demonstrate that NOMC with either 2D hexagonal (p6m) or 3D cubic (Im₃ m) structure can be easily synthesized by simply adjusting the polymerization temperature. We also demonstrate that PtCo/NOMC (metal loading: Pt 9.90 wt ; Co 3.31 wt ) is a highly effective catalyst for HDO of phenolic compounds and “real-world” biomass-derived phenolic streams. In the presence of PtCo/NOMC, full deoxygenation of phenolic compounds and a biomass-derived phenolic stream is achieved under conditions of low severity