Substitution of critical metals: carbide catalysts for selective C=O hydrogenation and C-O hydrogenolysis of multifunctional substrates – Hydrocarb

The aim is to design innovative heterogeneous carbide-based catalysts to selectively cleave C-O and hydrogenate C=O bonds from multifunctional substrates to high value chemicals. Highly selective catalytic materials are a prerequisite in order to reduce the carbon footprint and energy consumption of industrial processes. The proposal targets i) the selective C-O hydrogenolysis of erythritol in aqueous phase and ii) the selective C=O hydrogenation of a,ß-unsaturated carbonyls in liquid (cinnamaldehyde) or gas phase (prenal). The selectivity can be obtained over catalysts combining a noble metal (Ru) and an oxophilic promoter (ReOx). The objective is to substitute these rare and expensive formulations (Rh, Re) with Transition Metal Carbide (TMC)-based bimetallic catalysts from base metals only (Mo and W) with optimized metallic (Mo2C) and oxophilic (WOxCy) properties to elaborate new Mo2C/WOxCy formulations supported on various supports (TiO2, ZrO2, carbon). The project is organized along 3 work packages: 1) catalyst design both with well-established robust methods and original (colloidal) routes, 2) catalytic reactions in liquid- and gas-phase, 3) operando catalysts characterization with advanced synchrotron-based techniques. LRS, IRCELyon and Institut Néel will share their common knowledge in the synthesis and reactivity of carbide-based catalysts and synchrotron characterization in order to achieve unprecedented structure/activity correlations for these systems. This project could have both a high economic impact and a large environmental outcome in substituting scarce/expensive metals and converting polyfunctional bioresources into economically viable chemical compounds.