2.3.2 Catalytic testing
The activity test was conducted on a continuous flow high-pressure unit equipped with a stainless-steel fixed-bed tubular reactor with a length of 1.2 m and an inner diameter of 1 cm with a height of approximately 15 cm. In a typical testing, 10 g of the as-prepared catalyst diluted with quartz sand of the same size to 12 mL was loaded in the reactor. Both sides of the catalyst bed were packed with quartz sand. The catalyst was activated in H2 flow (200 mL min–1and 3 MPa) at 493 K for 24 h at a ramping rate of 10 K min−1. After being cooled down to the reaction temperature of 483 K, cyclohexyl acetate was pumped into the reactor at 5.0 g h–1 with the H2/ester molar ratio of 30 and a system pressure of 5 MPa. The reaction reached the steady state after 12 h on stream. Then, the product was sampled every 12 h for at least three times, and each sample was analyzed three times gas chromatographically. The catalysts were evaluated at least in duplicate.