We investigated catalysts for the hydrogenation reaction of triglycerides and tricyclopentadiene (TCPD) in this study.
First, we compared the produced Ni-SA catalysts with commercial catalysts to confirm whether it is feasible to use the former as domestic catalysts. We analyzed the physical and chemical properties of the produced catalysts with N2 adsorption and X-ray diffraction(XRD) and their metal content with X-ray fluorescence. The applicability of the Ni-SA catalyst prepared herein as a commercial catalyst was investigated in comparison with a commercial catalyst (Pricat). The investigation results show that the Ni-SA catalyst is superior to Pricat in terms of reaction activity. The particle size and pore size of the Ni-SA catalyst are smaller and larger, respectively, than those of Pricat. Therefore, the Ni-SA catalyst can potentially replace Pricat in the hydrogenation reaction of triglycerides.
Second, we investigated the effect of MgO on Ru catalyst for the hydrogenation of TCPD. The effect of regeneration number was investigated as well. The physical and
chemical properties of catalyst were analyzed with N2 adsorption, H2-temperatureprogrammed reduction, and XRD. The crystal size of Ru metal supported on alumina increased as the number of repetitions of the experiment increased. Moreover, SSA and the extent of metal dispersion decreased because Ru metal was sintered by the continuous thermal reaction. The THDCPD and THTCPD yields on Ru-MgO/alumina catalyst were approximately 10% lower than those on Ru/alumina catalyst. However, as the number of repetitions of the regeneration experiment increased, the Ru-MgO/alumina catalyst showed increasingly sTable activity and provided higher yield than the Ru/alumina catalyst. The results of a CO-chemisorption experiment showed that the addition of MgO increased the extent of dispersion of Ru metal. Moreover, MgO prevented the sintering of Ru metal in repeated heat treatment cycles. Therefore, we concluded that although Ru-MgO/alumina catalysts, in which MgO is the co-catalyst, have lower initial activity than Ru/alumina catalysts, they exhibit higher levels of thermal stability and are suiTable for long-term use.