Transformation of Jatropha Oil into High-Quality Biofuel over Ni–W Bimetallic Catalysts

[Image: see text] The production of fuel from the hydrodeoxygenation of vegetable oils has been extensively investigated on account of the decline of petroleum-based fuels and increase of ecological problems. The conversion of jatropha oil over Al-MCM-41-supported Ni, W, and Ni–W catalysts was studied at 3 MPa and 360 °C. Over the monometallic Ni and W catalysts, the biofuel yield was low, about 19.3 and 12.5 wt %, respectively, whereas the highest biofuel yield reached 63.5 wt % over the Ni–W bimetallic catalysts. X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and high-resolution TEM results suggested that the proper amount of Ni and W would form a Ni(17)W(3) active phase, the particle size of which varied with the content of Ni and W or preparation methods. The crystalline Ni(17)W(3) phase formed when the content of both Ni and W reached 10%. With further increase of the content of W or Ni to 15%, the crystal size of Ni(17)W(3) grew from 7 to 14 nm or to 20 nm, whereas the biofuel yield decreased with the increase of the Ni(17)W(3) crystal size. The 10Ni–10W/Al-MCM-41 catalyst with the Ni(17)W(3) crystal size of 7 nm showed the best performance for the transformation of jatropha oil into high-grade biofuel.