Mesoporous aluminosilicate from nanocellulose template: effect of porosity, morphology and catalytic activity for biofuel production

Mesoporous aluminosilicate (Al-MS) with different morphology and porosity is synthesized using a combination of sol-gel and hydrothermal methods by controlling the ratio between P123 and nanocellulose (NCC). The role of NCC as templates is elucidated based on the transformation of Al-MS from rod-like morphology with hexagonal pores to uniform nanoparticles with intraparticle mesostructure at increasing NCC ratios. Increasing NCC concentration reduced the regularity of the mesopores. TEM analysis revealed a hexagonal pore arrangement for Al-MS and Al-MS (0.25). In contrast, Al-MS (1) with only NCC shows disordered mesostructure. Optimization of P123:NCC ratio enhances the V_meso/V_micro to reach the optimum value of ∼18.65, which is essential to enhance hydrocarbon yield. Al-MS (0.25) is the most active catalyst for deoxygenation (DO) of Calophyllum inophyllum oil, reaching 95.98 % conversion, 50.77 % liquid yield and 60.27 % selectivity towards n-(C₁₅₊₁₇) hydrocarbon. In general, Al-MS (0.25) demonstrates outstanding performance owing to its good physicochemical characteristics and acidity.