Structure-activity enhancement of Ni/mesoporous aluminosilicate via microcrystalline cellulose biotemplating for hydrocarbon-rich deoxygenation of non-edible oil

The effect of microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) as a biotemplate was investigated on the textural properties and morphology of mesoporous aluminosilicate. A series of aluminosilicates was synthesized through a sol–gel hydrothermal method using P123 and MCC as dual templates, with the MCC fraction varying from 0 to 100%. The resulting aluminosilicates exhibited variation in morphology and mesostructural order, consequently affecting the distribution and dispersion of NiO. Low-angle XRD confirmed that the incorporation of MCC increased mesostructural ordering, reaching its optimum at the 50% MCC ratio. TEM analysis revealed that aluminosilicate produced using 50% MCC formed highly ordered hexagonal mesopores and increased Smeso/Smicro and Vmeso/Vmicro ratios. The catalytic deoxygenation of Calophyllum inophyllum oil demonstrated that Ni/AlMS (50% MCC) produced a 63.02% liquid yield with 94.78% hydrocarbon selectivity, attributed to the balanced meso-structure and well-dispersed Ni nanoparticles. The Ni/AlMS (50% MCC) retained considerable catalytic activity over five consecutive reaction cycles, with deactivation primarily associated with carbonaceous deposition. Overall, these findings clearly demonstrate that MCC is capable of modifying the structure of the support material, effectively allowing for the incorporation of Ni into high-performance biofuel catalysts.