Deactivation of supported skeletal Ni catalyst and effect of regeneration temperature on its catalytic performance

•Catalyst deactivation was attributed to sintering of skeletal Ni and coke precursor.•Spent catalyst could be regenerated by calcinating at 550 °C and reducing at 450 °C.•Both fresh and regenerated catalyst exhibited excellent catalytic performance.

Deactivation and regeneration of supported skeletal Ni catalyst applied to hydrogenation of indene and styrene in fixed-bed reactor were investigated. The significant aggregation of skeletal Ni and formation of coke precursors were the main reasons for deactivation of catalyst. Furthermore, TG-DTA, XRD, SEM, BET and H2-TPR were utilized to characterize the regenerated catalysts and calcining the spent catalysts in air at 550 °C for 3 h and then reducing in H2 at 450 °C for 3 h under 240 h− 1 (GHSV) could recover its activity according to hydrogenation evaluation results.

Graphical abstractThe bar chart exhibits the catalytic performance of fresh and regenerated supported skeletal Ni catalyst on hydrogenation of indene and styrene during 50-hour period experiments. Regeneration of catalyst can be achieved by the method of calcining the spent catalyst in air at 550 °C for 3 h and then reducing in H2 at 450 °C for 3 h under 240 h− 1 (GHSV) in spite of minimal decrease of activity.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide