Nickel‑tungsten co-doped carbon-based catalyst for high selective production of ethylene glycol from cellulose hydrogenolysis

Nickel‑tungsten co-doped spherical carbon-based catalysts (m%Ni-n%W-GC T ) are prepared by one-pot hydrothermal‑carbonization using glucose as carbon host. Structural composition of tungsten transforms from WOx → W → WCx when increasing carbonization temperature and tungsten loading content at the presence of Ni during hydrogen reduction , attributed to the occurrence of carburizing reaction. The carbon-based catalysts exhibit developed porous structures with weak and moderately strong acidity, and the Brønsted acid and total acid contents increase with promoting tungsten loading content. Investigation of m%Ni-n%W-GC T activity on catalyzing cellulose hydrogenolysis shows that the porous structure provides abundant reaction sites and facilitates reactant transportation, where the Brønsted acid sites promote hydrolyzing cellulose, and WC x is beneficial for hydrogenolysis of glucose other than direct hydrogenation and then Retro-Aldol condensation for ethylene glycol (EG). The optimized reaction condition (2 h at 230 °C and 5 MPa with 9%Ni-13.5%W-GC 850 as the catalyst) delivers a cellulose conversion of 100%, with 69.2% selectivity for EG. The study provides an effective method for preparing EG from cellulose employing biomass-based carbon as the catalyst support.