Hydrodeoxygenation of Anisole over Silica-Supported Ni₂P, MoP, and NiMoP Catalysts

Ni2P/SiO2, MoP/SiO2, and NiMoP/SiO2 with different Ni/Mo molar ratios were prepared by temperature-programmed reduction (TPR). Their structural properties were characterized by N2 sorption, X-ray diffraction (XRD), CO chemisorption, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), H2 temperature-programmed desorption (H2-TPD), and NH3 temperature-programmed desorption (NH3-TPD). Their performances for the hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of anisole were tested in a fixed-bed reactor. It was found that there were mainly three reactions that occurred during the HDO, i.e., the demethylation of anisole, the hydrogenolysis of phenol, and the hydrogenation of benzene. The HDO activities decreased in the sequence of Ni2P/SiO2 > NiMoP/SiO2 > MoP/SiO2. The NiMoP/SiO2 catalysts with larger Ni/Mo ratios had higher activities. In the phosphides, the Niδ+ and Moδ+ sites bearing small positive charges acted not only as Lewis acid sites for the demethylation but also as metal sites for the hydrogenolysis and hydrogenation. The Niδ+ site...