Hydrolytic hydro-conversion of cellulose to ethylene glycol over bimetallic CNTs-supported NiWB amorphous alloy catalyst

• Catalytic conversion of cellulose into ethylene glycol with 57.7% yield on NiWB/CNTs
• WO3 species are active mainly as solid acid for the hydrolysis of cellulose to glucose.
• Strong acid sites and acid amounts are key factors.
• Catalytic performance depends on the NiWB alloy well distributed over the CNTs surface.

NiWB/CNTs catalysts were prepared by ultrasonic impregnation chemical reduction method and showed high activity in the hydrolytic hydro-conversion of cellulose to ethylene glycol. The conversion of cellulose could be high to 100% with an ethylene glycol selectivity of 57.7%. The catalysts were characterized by XRD, TEM, NH3-TPD and XPS. The hydrolytic hydro-conversion activity of the catalyst was related to it's highly dispersion of NiWB, appropriate particle size and the synergistic effect between strong acid sites in CNTs and NiW alloying structure.

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