Hydrogenation of 2-methylnaphthalene over bi-functional Ni catalysts

Nickel catalysts were synthesized by incipient wetness impregnation and coprecipitation compared to a commercial Ni/kieselguhr catalyst for selective hydrogenation of 2-methylnaphthalene yield methyldecalin. The characterized using N2 physisorption, TGA, XRD, TEM. apparent activation energy depends on the support identity, with highest value (87 kJ/mol) obtained Ni/SiO2-Al2O3 lowest (30 Ni/kieselguhr. selectivity cis-/trans-methyldecalin varied as function both identity reaction conditions, high cis-methyldecalin higher Ni loadings at lower temperatures. precious metal onto coprecipitated also changed their selectivity, containing ruthenium selectively formed cis-methyldecalin, whereas platinum produced mostly trans-methyldecalin. This research demonstrates that can be useful producing inexpensive polyaromatic-containing feedstocks.