Influence of the Support Material on the Activity and Selectivity of Ru–Sn–B Catalysts for the Selective Hydrogenation of Methyl Oleate

The influence of the kind of support (Al2O3, SiO2, and TiO2) on the catalytic activity and selectivity of Ru–Sn–B catalysts for the hydrogenation of methyl oleate to oleyl alcohol was studied. The results show that the most active and selective catalyst for producing oleyl alcohol is Ru(1%)–Sn(2%)–B/Al2O3. This was attributed to the catalyst having a favorable surface Sn/Ru ratio (∼2). The SiO2-supported Ru–Sn–B catalyst had a good activity and hydrogenated both C═C double bonds and the C═O group, thus producing stearyl alcohol with a high yield. It however deactivated, to a great extent, its final conversion being lower than that of the bimetallic catalysts supported on Al2O3 and TiO2. The TiO2-supported catalyst had a high selectivity to saturated methyl esters because it hydrogenated C═C double bonds but had little activity for hydrogenation of the C═O group.