Nickel-based catalysts supported on ZrO2

SiO2

and Al2O3 supports

were prepared by incipient impregnation method and evaluated using liquid phase hydrogenation of maleic anhydride. BET

XRD

H2-TPR and TPO-MS were employed to characterize these catalysts. Their catalytic performance varied with supports used. Among all the catalysts

Ni/Al2O3 catalyst exhibited the highest activity for C=C hydrogenation

while there was the lowest activity for C=O hydrogenation. Ni/ZrO2 catalyst had the highest C=O hydrogenation activity

and maleic anhydride conversion and γ-butyrolactone selectivity were 100% and 79.2% respectively under the reaction condition of 483 K

5 MPa of H2 and 8 h of reaction time. The re-use experiment of catalyst demonstrated that the stability of catalyst in liquid phase hydrogenation of maleic anhydride was better for Ni/ZrO2 and Ni/SiO2 than Ni/Al2O3. Both selectivity and stability of catalysts could be explained by the interaction between succinic anhydride and catalyst.