Selective Hydrogenation of 1-Methylnaphthalene to 1-Methyldecalins with Supported Ni Catalysts for Hydrogen Storage: The Influence of the Nature of the Support

1-Methylnaphthalene and the products of hydrogenation exhibit a high hydrogen storage capacity (6.6 wt.%), which makes them extremely promising as liquid organic hydrogen carriers. In this work, effective monometallic catalysts, 15Ni/Al2O3, 15Ni/Al2O3-SiO2, and 15Ni/Sib-ox, were synthesized and first investigated for hydrogenation of 1-methylnaphthalene to 1-methyldecalins. The prepared catalysts were characterized using a set of physicochemical analysis methods: SEM-EDX, TEM, XRD, N2 adsorption–desorption, FTIR and UV-vis-DRS. The catalytic activity of the samples in the hydrogenation reaction of 1-methylnaphthalene (100 min, 4 MPa, 240 °C) was studied in comparison to the traditional catalyst of hydrogenation, Ni Raney. The 15%Ni/Sib-ox catalyst showed a 100% conversion and high selectivity of 85.2% with respect to the target product 1-methyldecalins, while in the presence of Ni Raney, a selectivity of 74.3% was achieved with complete conversion of the substrate.