Optimization of Bimetallic Catalysts for the Hydrogenation of Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carriers using Contaminated Hydrogen Gas
7 affiliations
- 1Bilbao School of Engineering, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Plaza Ingeniero Torres Quevedo 1, Bilbao, Spain, 48013
- 2Interface Research and Catalysis, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Egerlandstraße 3, Erlangen, Germany, 91058
- 3Institute of Chemical Reaction Engineering, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Egerlandstraße 3, Erlangen, Germany, 91058
- 4Department of Chemical Engineering
- 5Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU
- 6Institute For a Sustainable Hydrogen Economy (IHE
- 7Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH
Abstract
Liquid organic hydrogen carriers enable safe storage of H2 at high densities, but scalable application is impeded by the tolerance towards impurities common in industrial H2 streams, notably CO that poisons noble metals. In this work, we investigated synergistic effects in Pd-, Ru-, and Ni-based catalysts on Al2O3 for benzyltoluene hydrogenation under pure H2 and COcontaminated feeds representative of realistic operation. By enforcing identical metal loadings, dispersion, and mesoporosity across a series of mono- and bimetallic samples, intrinsic metalmetal effects were isolated. XPS reveals a more electron-rich Ni surface phase in the bimetallics, with Ru exerting a stronger influence on the electronic state of Ni than Pd. Catalytic activity of the samples in the presence of CO follows Pd–Ni >> Ni ≳ Ru–Ni >> Pd ≈ Ru. Ni is essential to retain activity under CO, while monometallic Pd and Ru are strongly poisoned. This is due to Nidriven CO methanation which initiates near 525 K on bimetallics. In case of the best-performing Pd–Ni/Al2O3 catalyst, operando DRIFTS identifies isolated Pd sites embedded in Ni that reversibly segregate/redisperse under CO/H2, forming transient Pd2/Pd3 ensembles. Overall, this work shows that selective incorporation of low noble metal contents into Ni is a viable strategy to produce robust, CO-tolerant, and economically attractive catalyst for benzyltoluene hydrogenation under impure hydrogen.
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BibTeX
@misc{alconada2026optimization,
title = {{Optimization of Bimetallic Catalysts for the Hydrogenation of Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carriers using Contaminated Hydrogen Gas}},
author = {Kevin Alconada and Yaoci Sheng and Lukas Popp and Adrian Seitz and Felix Lott and Felix Herold and Victoria Laura Barrio and Tanja Retzer and Patrick Schühle},
howpublished = {ChemRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.26434/chemrxiv.15009407/v1},
url = {https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15009407/v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Optimization of Bimetallic Catalysts for the Hydrogenation of Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carriers using Contaminated Hydrogen Gas
AU - Kevin Alconada
AU - Yaoci Sheng
AU - Lukas Popp
AU - Adrian Seitz
AU - Felix Lott
AU - Felix Herold
AU - Victoria Laura Barrio
AU - Tanja Retzer
AU - Patrick Schühle
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/24
PB - ChemRxiv
DO - 10.26434/chemrxiv.15009407/v1
UR - https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15009407/v1
AB - Liquid organic hydrogen carriers enable safe storage of H2 at high densities, but scalable application is impeded by the tolerance towards impurities common in industrial H2 streams, notably CO that poisons noble metals. In this work, we investigated synergistic effects in Pd-, Ru-, and Ni-based catalysts on Al2O3 for benzyltoluene hydrogenation under pure H2 and COcontaminated feeds representative of realistic operation. By enforcing identical metal loadings, dispersion, and mesoporosity across a series of mono- and bimetallic samples, intrinsic metalmetal effects were isolated. XPS reveals a more electron-rich Ni surface phase in the bimetallics, with Ru exerting a stronger influence on the electronic state of Ni than Pd. Catalytic activity of the samples in the presence of CO follows Pd–Ni >> Ni ≳ Ru–Ni >> Pd ≈ Ru. Ni is essential to retain activity under CO, while monometallic Pd and Ru are strongly poisoned. This is due to Nidriven CO methanation which initiates near 525 K on bimetallics. In case of the best-performing Pd–Ni/Al2O3 catalyst, operando DRIFTS identifies isolated Pd sites embedded in Ni that reversibly segregate/redisperse under CO/H2, forming transient Pd2/Pd3 ensembles. Overall, this work shows that selective incorporation of low noble metal contents into Ni is a viable strategy to produce robust, CO-tolerant, and economically attractive catalyst for benzyltoluene hydrogenation under impure hydrogen.
ER -