Ni-BTC metal-organic framework loaded on MCM-41 to promote hydrodeoxygenation and hydrocracking in jet biofuel production

To improve catalytic performance of metal active sites in hydrodeoxygenation and hydrocracking conversion of methyl palmitate into high-quality jet biofuel, Ni-1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylate (Ni-BTC) metal-organic framework loaded on MCM-41(Mobil Composition of Matter No. 41) was prepared to enhance the accessibility of Ni active sites, facilitating hydrodeoxygenation to increase alkane yield with suitable arene content. The distance (0.98 nm) between Ni active sites within Ni-BTC structure, which was much larger than that (0.20 nm) within Ni nanoparticles, enabled methyl palmitate with maximum molecule width of 0.68 nm to go through Ni-BTC crystalline plane and get access to Ni active sites more easily. Ni-BTC nanosheets newly assembled in pore channels of MCM-41 were beneficial to effectively screen chain molecules of alkane products. With the largest BET surface area of 1014.2 m2/g, the Ni-BTC@MCM-41 catalyst with 2.5 wt% nickel (2.5Ni-BTC@MCM-41) reduced the nickel metal consumption by 75% comparing to nickel nanoparticle loading (10Ni@MCM-41), but achieved the best catalytic performances through hydrodeoxygenation on Ni active sites and hydrocracking on -SiOH acid sites. The alkane yield increased from 23.3% to 33.9%, while arene yield reduced from 22.4% to 6.5% in jet biofuel products. This resulted in an overall jet biofuel yield of 53.2% with uniform distribution along carbon numbers. The higher heating value of jet biofuel products thus increased to a peak of 45.90 MJ/kg.