Abstract:Fatty alcohols are important feedstocks in the chemical industry, primarily produced by the high-pressure hydrogenation of animal and vegetable oils or their derivatives. The key challenge lies in designing and fabricating efficient heterogeneous catalysts with high selectivity for high-pressure hydrogenation reactions. In this work, leveraging the formation of green rust during α-FeOOH synthesis, Cu species were loaded onto α-FeOOH via a sedimentation precipitation method to prepare a highly active, calcination-free catalyst for fatty ester hydrogenation. The catalyst′s surface structure and physicochemical properties were characterized using XRD, XPS, and TEM, and the synergistic effect between Cu and Fe on the catalytic performance in the hydrogenation of methyl palmitate to fatty alcohols was investigated. Results showed that, under in situ reduction conditions, the iron species are converted from α-FeOOH to Fe_3O_4, and the copper species are converted from Cu_2(OH)_2CO_3 to Cu^0. After optimization, the conversion of methyl palmitate by the 10Cu-G catalyst exceeded 99%, and the selectivity for hexadecanol was close to 100% at 300 ℃, 10 MPa H_2, and a reaction time of 2 hours. The reaction mechanism was proposed based on analysis: The highly dispersed Cu^0 species on the catalyst surface and the abundant Lewis acid centers on the Fe_3O_4 surface synergistically participate in the activation and conversion reactions of H_2 and methyl palmitate. H_2 dissociates into active H· on Cu0, and the C=O bond of methyl palmitate is activated by the Lewis acid centers on the Fe_3O_4 surface. The formed H· attacks the activated C=O bond and promotes the dissociation of methyl palmitate to form hexadecanol. Close-