Hydrodeoxygenation of aliphatic esters on sulphided NiMo/γ-Al2O3 and CoMo/γ-Al2O3 catalyst: The effect of water

Water formed during hydrotreating of oxygen-containing feeds has been found to affect the performance of sulphided catalysts in different ways. The effect of water on the activity of sulphided NiMo/γ-Al₂O₃ and CoMo/γ-Al₂O₃ catalysts in hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of aliphatic esters was investigated in a tubular reactor by varying the amount of water in the feed. In additional experiments, H₂S was added to the feed, alone and simultaneously with water.

Under the same conditions, the NiMo catalyst exhibited a higher activity than the CoMo catalyst. The ester conversions decreased with increase in the amount of added water. When H₂S and water were added simultaneously, the conversion increased to the same level as without water addition on the NiMo catalyst and reached a higher value on the CoMo catalyst. The conversions were highest, however, when only H₂S was added. Unfortunately, the conversions decreased with time under all conditions. On both catalysts, the total yield of the C₇ and C₆ hydrocarbons decreased with the amount of added water, while the concentrations of the oxygen-containing intermediates increased. The presence of H₂S improved the total hydrocarbon yield and shifted the main products towards the C₆ hydrocarbons. Thus, the addition of H₂S effectively compensated the inhibition by water.