EUROPEAN CONGRESS AND EXHIBITION ON ADVANCED MATERIALS AND PROCESSES - EUROMAT 2021

Renewable feedstocks are an important element in a green economy, as they have the potential to replace fossil fuels in the future. But the production and conversion of renewable fuels, such as biomass, remains a challenge. The natural polymer Lignin is believed to have considerable potential as a renewable feedstock. Lignin can be converted to high quality renewable fuels via catalytic hydrotreatment over NiMo catalysts.

The development and tuning of future NiMo catalysts benefit from an understanding of the underlying reaction mechanisms of Lignin conversion. However, details of these mechanisms are currently unexplored.

To gain a better understanding of the behavior of NiMo catalysts, we investigated the interaction with hydrogen and calcination of industrial NiMo catalysts using ambient pressure photoelectron spectroscopy (APXPS). APXPS is a quantitative and surface-sensitive technique that allows to monitor electronic changes in specific elements.

We present in situ APXPS measurement catalysts with different ratio of Ni:Mo and compare these to measurements of model systems of these catalysts such as Ni- and Mo-foils and NiMo-alloys. The new results will be conveyed and future directions discussed.