Defect-rich α-MoC supported on nitrogen doped porous carbon for transformation of quinoline to aromatics

The challenge for the conversion of alternative crude sources to aromatics is to retain aromatic rings in the hydrotreating process. The design of unique catalyst with low damage to the aromatic rings but with high ability to break C-N and C-C bonds is essential. Herein, defect-rich α-MoC supported on nitrogen-doped carbon (NC) was constructed to transform quinoline-like N-heterocyclic compounds to aromatics. The incorporation of NC increased the content of highly active coordination unsaturated Mo sites related to C or O defects and promoted the desorption and spillover of H₂. Moreover, the introduction of NC strengthened the electron donating ability of Mo and enhanced the adsorption strength of quinoline on catalyst surface. Consequently, the ability of molybdenum carbide to break C-N and C-C bonds was enhanced. The selectivity of products from C-N bonds breaking reached to 99.5%, and the selectivity of aromatic products from C-C bonds breaking reached to 58.1%. Meanwhile, the aromatic ring was highly preserved. The selectivity of aromatics achieved an impressive level of 85.1% over α-MoC/NC-0.2. The processing capacity of α-MoC/NC-0.2 was 1.3 times that of α-MoC. The stability of α-MoC/NC remained exceptional even when subjected to high liquid hourly space velocity.