Nickel loaded on biochar prepared from different carbon sources for selective hydrogenolysis of diphenyl ether.

Selective hydrogenolysis of lignin-derived compounds is a significant process to produce value-added chemicals and the design of the high active catalyst is challenging. Biochar was used as potential supports of heterogeneous catalysts due to its high porosity. Biochar prepared from different carbon sources had different effects on the dispersion and reduction of metallic Ni due to their different physical structure and elemental composition, resulting in the difference in catalytic performance. Herein, biochar obtained from biomass waste, cellulose powder, hemicellulose, and lignin were used as the support of catalysts. The effect of biochar with different carbon sources on the catalytic hydrogenolysis of lignin model compounds over Ni/AC catalyst was investigated. Among these catalysts, Ni/ACP prepared from cellulose powder exhibited the best catalytic activity for converting lignin-derived compounds into value-added compounds under mild conditions (140 °C and 1 MPa H 2). ACP with uniform pore structure could make Ni a better dispersion. The high purity sulfur-free ACP could therefore embrace more Ni0. These characteristics of Ni/ACP resulted in the optimal catalytic performance compared to other Ni/AC catalysts. Meanwhile, Ni/ACP was also used to explore the hydrogenolysis of other lignin model compounds to evaluate the applicability of the catalysts. [Display omitted] • Biochar prepared from different carbon sources was used as the catalyst support. • Ni supported on biochar prepared from cellulose had high catalytic performance. • The high activity of Ni/ACP is due to high surface area and sulfur-free of ACP. • The hydrogenolysis route over Ni/ACP was presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]