Effect of the nitrogen heterocyclic compounds on hydrodesulfurization using in situ hydrogen and a dispersed Mo catalyst

The hydrodesulfurization (HDS) of the highly refractory sulfur-containing compounds, dibenzothiophene (DBT) and 4,6-dimethyldibenzothiophene (4,6-DMDBT), and the effect of the basic and non-basic nitrogen heterocyclic compounds, such as quinoline and carbazole, on HDS using a dispersed unsupported Mo catalyst and in situ generated hydrogen were studied. Experimental results indicated that the dispersed unsupported Mo catalyst was effective for the HDS of 4,6-DMDBT in a mixture containing DBT. The direct desulfurization pathway (DDS) was the preferred pathway for the HDS of DBT while the hydrogenation pathway (HYD) was the preferred pathway for the HDS of 4,6-DMDBT under our experimental conditions. A strong inhibitive effect of the basic quinoline or the non-basic carbazole on the HDS of each of the sulfur-containing compounds was observed. The DDS and HYD pathways in the HDS of the refractory sulfur-containing compounds were affected to a different extent by the nitrogen-containing compounds, suggesting that different active sites were involved in these two reaction pathways.     

HDS of dibenzothiophenes and hydrogenation of tetralin over a SiO2 supported Ni-Mo-S catalyst? ?

A one-step synthesized Ni-Mo-S catalyst supported on SiO₂ was prepared and used for hydrodesulphurization (HDS) of dibenzothiophene (DBT), and 4,6-dimethyl-dibenzothiophene (4,6-DMDBT), and for hydrogenation of tetralin. The catalyst showed relatively high HDS activity with complete conversion of DBT and 4,6-DMDBT at temperature of 280 °C and a constant pressure of 435 psi. The HDS conversions of DBT and 4,6-DMDBT increased with increasing temperature and pressure, and decreasing liquid hourly space velocity (LHSV). The HDS of DBT proceeded mostly through the direct desulphurization (DDS) pathway whereas that of 4,6-DMDBT occurred mainly through the hydrogenation-desulphurization (HYD) pathway. Although the catalyst showed up to 24% hydrogenation/dehydrogenation conversion of tetralin, it had low conversion and selectivity for ring opening and contraction due to the competitive adsorption of DBT and 4,6-DMDBT and insufficient acidic sites on the catalyst surface.     

Performance of fluorine-added CoMoS/Al2O3 prepared by sonochemical and chemical vapor deposition methods in the hydrodesulfurization of dibenzothiophene and 4,6-dimethyldibenzothiophene

The performance of a new type of CoMoS/Al₂O₃ catalyst, with added fluorine and prepared by sonochemical and chemical vapor deposition (CVD) methods, was investigated in the hydrodesulfurization (HDS) of dibenzothiophene (DBT) and 4,6-dimethyldibenzothiophene (4,6-DMDBT). The catalyst, which was designed to contain optimum amounts of fluorine and cobalt, exhibited a higher activity, ca. 4.6 times higher activity particularly in the HDS of 4,6-DMDBT, than a fluorine-free catalyst prepared by a conventional impregnation method. The enhanced activity of the new catalyst can be attributed to the cumulative effects of individual factors involved in the catalyst preparation. That is, the use of a sonochemical synthesis led to a high dispersion of small MoS₂ crystallites on the alumina, and the addition of the Co species to the catalyst by CVD caused a close interaction between the Co species and the MoS₂ crystallites to produce numerous CoMoS species, which are the catalytically active species for HDS. The addition of fluorine increased the amounts of acidic sites in the catalyst, which promoted hydrogenation (HYD) route to a greater extent than the direct desulfurization (DDS) route in DBT HDS and both HYD and DDS routes to similar extents in the case of 4,6-DMDBT HDS. Accordingly, the addition of fluorine led to a greater increase in catalytic activity for 4,6-DMDBT HDS than for DBT HDS.     

Sulfided Mo and CoMo supported on zeolite as hydrodesulfurization catalysts: transformation of dibenzothiophene and 4,6-dimethyldibenzothiophene

The hydrodesulfurization (HDS) of dibenzothiophene (DBT) and of 4,6-dimethyldibenzothiophene (4,6-DMDBT) was carried out on sulfided Mo and CoMo on HY catalysts, and also on sulfided Mo and CoMo on alumina catalysts (fixed bed reactor, 330°C, 3 MPa hydrogen pressure). On all the catalysts, the two reactants transformed through the same parallel pathways: direct desulfurization (DDS) leading to biphenyl-type compounds, and desulfurization after hydrogenation (HYD) leading first to tetrahydrogenated intermediates, then to cyclohexylbenzene-type products. However, additional reactions were observed with the zeolite-supported catalysts, namely methylation of the reactants, cracking of the desulfurized products, and, in the case of 4,6-DMDBT, displacement of the methyl groups and transalkylation. The global activity of Mo/zeolite in DBT or 4,6-DMDBT transformation as well as its activity for the production of desulfurized products (HDS) were much higher than those of Mo/alumina. On the other hand, cobalt exerted a promoting effect on the activity in the transformation of DBT or 4,6-DMDBT of all the molybdenum catalysts. However, this effect was much less significant with the zeolite support than with the alumina support, which indicated that the promoter was not well associated to molybdenum on the zeolite support. Therefore, the activity of CoMo/zeolite in the HDS of DBT was much lower than that of CoMo/alumina. On the contrary, in the case of 4,6-DMDBT CoMo/zeolite was more active in HDS than CoMo/alumina. This increase in HDS activity was attributed to the transformation of 4,6-DMDBT into more reactive isomers through an acid-catalyzed methyl migration. The consequence was that on the zeolite-supported catalyst 4,6-DMDBT was more reactive than DBT.     

Deep oxidative desulfurization of model fuel using ozone generated by dielectric barrier discharge plasma combined with ionic liquid extraction

The dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) is often used to prepare ozone. In this study, a novel room temperature oxidative desulfurization method involving ozone oxidation produced in the DBD reactor combined with ionic liquid (IL) [BMIM]CH₃COO ([BMIM]Ac) extraction was developed. The method was suitable for the deep removal of sulfur (S)-containing compounds from model fuel. By this desulfurization technology, 4,6-dimethyldibenzothiophene (4,6-DMDBT), dibenzothiophene (DBT), benzothiophene (BT) and thiophene (TS) were efficiently removed. Normally, the removal of TS and BT from fuel is highly difficult. However, using the proposed method of this study without any catalyst, the removal rate of TS and BT reached 99.9%. When TiO₂/MCM-41 was used as a catalyst, the S-removal of DBT and 4,6-DMDBT increased to 98.6 and 95.2%, respectively. The sulfur removal activity of the four sulfur compounds decreased in the order of TS > BT >> DBT > 4,6-DMDBT.     

Ultra-deep hydrodesulfurization on MoS2 and Co0.1MoS2: Intrinsic vs. environmental factors

A hydrogenation index (HI), measured in the hydrodesulfurization (HDS) of dibenzothiophene (DBT), is used to estimate the intrinsic hydrogenation selectivities of MoS₂, Co_0.1MoS₂, and two supported HDS catalysts. The HI and catalyst activity for desulfurizing 4,6-diethyl-DBT follow the same trend: MoS₂ ? Co_0.1MoS₂ ? supported catalysts. For desulfurizing a petroleum fraction rich in 4,6-alkyl-DBTs and 4-alkyl-DBTs, the activity decreases as follows: Co_0.1MoS₂ > supported catalysts ? MoS₂. These results introduce an apparent conundrum: MoS₂ has such a high hydrogenation power and activity for desulfurizing 4,6-diethyl-DBT, why does it perform poorly in real-feed tests? This conundrum is resolved by showing that an ultra-deep HDS catalyst requires an optimum balance between an intrinsic factor (hydrogenation function) and an environmental factor (tolerance of organonitrogen). Incorporating Co into MoS₂ lowers the hydrogenation function of MoS₂ and hence improves tolerance of organonitrogen. This conclusion corroborates the prediction of an early modeling study.     

Amorphous unsupported Ni–Mo sulfide prepared by one step hydrothermal method for phenol hydrodeoxygenation

Unsupported sulfide catalysts are a potentially promising approach towards furthering the understanding and development of a better heterogeneous catalytic system capable of performing the hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of bio-oil proficiently under mild and short reaction conditions and times, respectively. Amorphous unsupported Ni–Mo sulfide, prepared from ammonium tetrathiomolybdate (ATTM) by a one step hydrothermal method, is already sulfided and so does not need a sulfidation step. The addition of the Ni promoter prevents the growth of Mo sulfide particles and causes a reduction in the surface area and a change in the pore characteristics as the amount of added Ni was increased. Ni sulfide alone (no Mo) showed a completely different morphology and properties compared to those of the Mo-containing sulfides, with or without the copresence of Ni. The activity and selectivity of catalysts was investigated using phenol as a model substrate in the direct-deoxygenation (DDO) and hydrogenation (HYD) reactions in a HDO system. The Ni–Mo sulfide catalyst with optimal Ni amount had a significantly higher phenol conversion efficiency (96.2 mol%), and favored a HYD pathway, than that seen for the Mo sulfide one (71.0 mol%) that favored a DDO pathway. H₂-temperature programmed desorption (TPD) suggested that this synergy was mainly derived from a change in the quality and not the number of the active sites. The synergetic effect was a function of the stoichiometric composition with the maximum synergetic effect being obtained at a Ni/(Mo + Ni) ratio of 0.3. This could result from the high dispersion of the active species and the generation of a more active Ni–Mo–S phase.     

Inhibition and deactivation in staged hydrodenitrogenation and hydrodesulfurization of medium cycle oil over NiMoS/Al2O3 catalyst

Hydrodesulfurization (HDS) and hydrodenitrogenation (HDN) of a commercial medium cycle oil (MCO) were performed over a commercial NiMoS/Al₂O₃ catalyst through both single- and two-stage hydrotreatments at 340°C. The reaction atmosphere was replaced with fresh hydrogen, with or without additional dose of catalyst, for the second-stage treatment to determine the mechanism of reduced activity. Sulfur and nitrogen molecular species in MCO were identified by gas chromatography with an atomic emission detector (GC-AED) to quantify their respective reactivities and susceptibilities to inhibition. Under single-stage (30 min) conditions, the reactivity orders in HDS and HDN were BT>DBT>4-MDBT>4,6-DMDBT and In>alkylIn>Cz>1-Cz>1,8-Cz, respectively. Additional reaction time beyond the initial 30 min, without atmosphere or catalyst replacement, gave little additional conversion. Replacement of the first-stage gas with fresh hydrogen strongly improved second-stage conversions, particularly those of the more refractory species. An additional dose of catalyst for the second stage with hydrogen renewal facilitated additional HDS of dibenzothiophene (DBT), 4-monomethylated DBT (4-MDBT), and 4,6-dimethylated DBT (4,6-DMDBT) which was independent of their initial reactivity, while HDN of carbazole (Cz), 1-Cz, and 1,8-Cz was improved, the least reactive species being most denitrogenated. Such results suggest the strong inhibition of the gaseous products H₂S and NH₃. The catalyst deactivation was most marked with HDN of 1,8-Cz, suggesting that acidity is essential to the reaction. H₂S is suspected to inhibit both S elimination and hydrogenation of S and N species at the level of concentration obtained during desulfurization. The inhibition by remaining substrates may still influence the HDS and HDN of refractory species in the second stage, even if their contents were reduced by the first stage. It appears very important to clarify the inhibition factor of all species on the refractory sulfur species, and to determine the inhibition susceptibility of these species at their lowered concentration to enable the effective achievement of 50 ppm sulfur level in distillate products. The conversions of inhibitors must be accounted for during reactions. Catalyst and reaction configuration to reduce the inhibition by the gaseous products are the keys for deep refining.     

Hydrodesulfurization of hindered dibenzothiophenes on bifunctional NiMo catalysts supported on zeolite–alumina composites

A series of NiMo catalysts supported on HNaY(x)–Al₂O₃ composites with different amounts of HNaY zeolite (x = 0, 5, 10, 20 and 100 wt.% of HNaY) was prepared and tested in the hydrodesulfurization (HDS) of dibenzothiophene (DBT) and 4,6-dimethyl-DBT (4,6-DMDBT). The catalysts were characterized by N₂ physisorption, X-ray diffraction (XRD), FT-IR spectroscopy of pyridine and nitrogen oxide adsorption (Py and NO-FT-IR), temperature-programmed reduction (TPR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM-EDX) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). It was found that the increase in the zeolite content causes changes in the acidic properties of the catalyst (number of acid sites) as well as in the characteristics of the deposited metallic species (location and dispersion). Different activity trends with the amount of the zeolite were found for the DBT and 4,6-DMDBT hydrodesulfurization on NiMo/HNaY-Al₂O₃ catalysts. As for the HDS of DBT the alumina-supported catalyst presents the highest activity. The incorporation of the zeolite causes an initial drop and then the recovery of activity with zeolite content. In contrast, for the 4,6-DMDBT the HDS activity always increases with zeolite content. These two different catalytic behaviors seem to be due to two opposite effects, which affect the contribution of the reaction routes available for the HDS of each reactant, these effects are: (i) the decrease of MoS₂ dispersion caused by the incorporation of zeolite to the catalyst and (ii) the increase of the proportion of Brönsted acid sites with zeolite content. The reaction product distribution indicates that both types of sites, coordinatively unsaturated sites (CUS) of the MoS₂ and zeolite Brönsted acid sites, participate in the 4,6-DMDBT and DBT transformations.     

Deep Hydrodesulphurization via Hydrogen Spillover

Abstract  

The synergistic effect between Co//Mo and Co//W stacked bed systems in the hydrodesulphurization (HDS) of 4,6-dimethyldibenzothiophene (4,6-DMDBT) was studied. The reaction was carried out in a high-pressure continuous-flow microreactor at 3 MPa and 300 °C. The observed synergism can only be explained by the action of hydrogen spillover (H_SO). The selectivity in hydrogenation over direct desulphurization pathways (HYD/DDS) of Mo/γ-Al₂O₃ and W/γ-Al₂O₃ catalysts increased when the reaction was carried out in Co//Mo and Co//W stacked bed systems, respectively. The changes in selectivity can be explained by the fact that hydrogen spillover does not only create more active sites, but it also modifies the sites, favouring the HYD pathway. Differences in synergistic effect between Co//Mo and Co//W stacked bed systems were related to the higher degree of sulphurization of the molybdenum compared to the tungsten phase, as detected by XPS.     

Analysis and deep hydrodesulfurization reactivity of Saudi Arabian gas oils

Gas oils obtained from Arabian Light (AL-GO), Arabian Medium (AM-GO) and Arabian Heavy (AH-GO) crude oils were subjected to detailed analysis in terms of reactive and refractory sulfur, nitrogen, as well as aromatic species. Deep hydrodesulfurization (HDS) of these gas oils over SiO₂–Al₂O₃-supported CoMo and NiMo catalysts was studied using autoclave reactor either in one- or two-stage operations. AL-GO was easily and deeply desulfurized to 15 ppm over CoMo/Al₂O₃–SiO₂ (catalyst X) at 340 °C and 5 MPa (H₂) for 2 h. At the same conditions, AM-GO and AH-GO could be desulfurized to 70 and 78 ppm, respectively. Two-staged HDS, by combining CoMo and NiMo catalysts, in successive steps resulted in effective deep HDS. The replacement of hydrogen atmosphere after the first-stage (1 h) enhanced the AH-GO HDS during the second-stage (1 h) to 9 ppm. However, replacing the hydrogen in the second-stage with 5% H₂S in hydrogen inhibited the HDS, resulting in product sulfur content of 15 ppm. Analysis of sulfur species indicate that significant fraction of reactive and refractory sulfur species were removed during the first-stage whereas the remaining refractory sulfur species were removed during the second-stage. Kinetic analysis indicates overwhelming influence of refractive sulfur species on the overall HDS. The results from this study show that two-stage scheme with optimum catalysts in series can be applied to overcome the difficulty to achieve deep HDS of AH-GO.     

Investigation into the effect of the intermediate carbon carrier on the catalytic activity of the HDS catalysts prepared using heteropolycompounds

The effect of the intermediate activated carbon covering the alumina carrier on catalytic activity of the supported transition metal sulfides (TMS) prepared from heteropolycompounds (HPCs) in thiophene hydrodesulfurization (HDS), benzene hydrogenation (HYD) and hydrotreating (including HDS of S-containing and HYD of polyaromatic compounds) of diesel oil fractions was investigated. Carbon content on the alumina carrier varied from 0 to 3.8 wt.%. It was found that the structure of carbon coating the alumina surface changes depending on the presence/absence of the active phase on the intermediate activated carbon. Total catalytic activity of the catalysts in HDS and HYD reactions was maximal for carbon content of 1–2 wt.% and fell down for catalysts with 3.8 wt.% of carbon. The specific catalytic activity grew proportionally to the carbon content on the catalyst. The experimental data showed that a rise of the reaction temperature leads to a decrease in the amount of adsorbed hydrogen whose deficiency limits the formation of H₂S. It was supposed that the intermediate carbon placed between the alumina carrier and the active phase accumulates hydrogen inside carbon pores. Besides, the intermediate C-carrier of the catalysts synthesized from Co(Ni) salts of heteropolycompounds promotes rising of stacking number in nanoslabs of the active CoMoS phase of the second type.     

Activities of unsupported second transition series metal sulfides for hydrodesulfurization of sterically hindered 4,6‐dimethyldibenzothiophene and of unsubstituted dibenzothiophene

The applicability of transition metal sulfides (TMS) from the second transition series in deep hydrodesulfurization (HDS) was examined and compared to that of a traditional, supported CoMo/Al₂O₃ catalyst. Sulfides of Nb, Mo, Ru, Rh and Pd were studied for HDS of dibenzothiophene (DBT) and 4,6‐dimethyldibenzothiophene (4,6‐Me₂DBT). Measurements were carried out with unsupported TMS samples at different temperatures and H₂S partial pressures. The trend in DBT HDS activities agreed quite well with those found by previous authors. It was furthermore found that the activities of the metal sulfides towards the sterically hindered molecule 4,6‐Me₂DBT closely followed those for DBT. This is somewhat surprising since the direct sulfur abstraction route was of major importance for DBT while the prehydrogenation route, in which ring‐hydrogenation in the DBT skeleton precedes desulfurization, was prevalent for 4,6‐Me₂DBT. This suggests that common steps are involved in the two routes. For the unsupported metal sulfides, ring‐hydrogenated but not desulfurized DBT and 4,6‐Me₂DBT products were found in much larger amounts than for supported and promoted MoS₂‐based catalysts. This can be rationalized as being due to a relatively higher hydrogenation/desulfurization selectivity ratio for the different transition metal sulfides. Inhibition by H₂S was found to be most pronounced near the center of the transition series. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Nickel and cobalt promoted tungsten and molybdenum sulfide mesoporous catalysts for hydrodesulfurization

High-performance hydrodesulfurization (HDS) catalysts were prepared by incipient wetness impregnation of Ni-Mo(W) and Co-Mo(W) species over siliceous MCM-41 doped with zirconium. Catalysts with W and Mo loadings of 20 and 11 wt%, respectively, and with a Ni or Co loading of 5 wt%, were prepared. As a reference, a nickel-tungsten catalyst supported on a commercial γ-Al₂O₃ with a 5 and 20 wt% metal loadings, respectively has also been prepared. HDS reaction of dibenzothiophene (DBT) under 3.0 MPa of total pressure and with hourly space velocity (WHSV) of 28 h⁻¹ was used to evaluate the activity of these sulfided catalysts. All the catalysts displayed a very good performance in the temperature range of 300-340 °C, with conversions between 49.0% and 92.6%. The Ni promoted catalysts displayed better performances than those of Co promoted catalysts in the HDS of DBT. On the other hand they show different selectivity to hydrogenation, thus, in Ni promoted catalysts, the hydrogenation (HYD) reaction contributes more to the conversion of DBT than Co promoted catalysts where the direct desulfurization (DDS) reaction is more important. The performance of this set of catalysts is similar to that observed with a Ni5W20-Al₂O₃ catalyst in the same range of temperature (300-340 °C). However, the selectivity to the HYD product, CHB, observed with nickel promoted catalysts (Ni5-Mo11 and Ni5-W20) is higher than that found for Ni5W20-Al₂O₃ catalyst probably due to a higher superficial area of the MCM-support and to the presence on the surface of zirconium species, which leading to a better dispersion and lower stacking of the active phases.     

Trimetallic NiMoW unsupported catalysts for HDS

Trimetallic unsupported NiMoW sulfide catalysts were prepared of by decomposition-sulfidation of bimetallic Mo-W thiosalts precursors impregnated with Ni. The catalytic activity of the catalysts was determined, both in situ and ex situ, in the dibenzothiophene (DBT) hydrodesulfuration (HDS) reaction. The sample with a relative composition R1 = Mo/[Mo ? W] = 0.85 and R2 = Ni/[Mo + W] = 0.5 presented a substantial increment (k = 23 × 10^?7 mol/s g) with selectivity to hydrogenation by a factor of 1.24 over hydrodesulfuration. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) micrographs showed changes in morphology as a function of R1 suggesting that distinct crystalline phases were formed. Also, X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements of precursors and catalysts revealed that the bimetallic thiosalt structure presents the same planes of the rhombohedral structure as ammonium thiomolybdate (ATM) or ammonium thiotungstate (ATT) indicating that redistribution of Mo and W occurred preferably in specific orientations as the (0 0 2), (0 2 0) and (3 1 0). The ammonium thiomolybdate-thiotungstate (ATMW) bimetallic thiosalt with R1 = 0.85 showed very different structure from the original Mo or W single precursors, among all the samples. Extended Hückel calculations revealed that promotion of (Mo-W)S₂ precursors with Ni forming trimetallic NiMoWS catalysts after sulfidation, increases the availability of electrons over the Fermi level increasing the metallic character of the catalysts.     

Upgrading of gas oils: the HDS kinetics of dibenzothiophene and its derivatives in real gas oil

The hydrodesulphurization (HDS) of dibenzothiophene (DBT), 4-methyl dibenzothiophene (4 M-DBT), 4,6-dimethyl dibenzothiophene (4,6 DM-DBT) and 4,6-diethyl dibenzothiophene (4,6 DE-DBT) as real gas oil components on NiMo/Al₂O₃ catalyst was investigated. On the basis of the first order rate constants of HDS of the individual sulphur compounds reactivities of the investigated compounds decreased in the order DBT ≫ 4 M-DBT > 4,6 DE-DBT ≈ 4,6 DM-DBT. Apparent activation energies of HDS of above sulphur compounds increased from 80.0 to 120.5 kJ/mol.     

Influence of reduction temperature and metal loading on the performance of molybdenum phosphide catalysts for dibenzothiophene hydrodesulfurization

Two series of alumina-supported molybdenum phosphide (MoP) catalysts with low and high metal loadings were prepared by temperature-programmed reduction of the oxidic catalyst precursors in hydrogen to different temperatures (823, 923, 1023 and 1123 K, respectively). Effects of reduction temperature and metal loading on the surface distribution and the type of species formed were studied by TPR, S_BET, XRD, HRTEM, ³¹P NMR, ²⁷Al NMR and in the reaction of dibenzothiophene (DBT) hydrodesulfurization (HDS) performed in a flow reactor at 553 K and total hydrogen pressure of 3.4 MPa. HRTEM and ³¹P NMR confirmed formation of MoP phase on all catalysts. The 9.9 wt% Mo catalyst activated at lowest reduction temperature (823 K) was found to be most active among the catalysts studied. The presence of a low amount of Mo⁰ species on the surface of this catalyst does not appear to be a drawback for the catalytic activity. The increase in both metal loading (from 9.9 to 15 wt% Mo and from 3.2 to 4.8 wt% P) and reduction temperature (from 823 to 1123 K) was found to be detrimental for HDS activity due to sintering of active phase, and also to decrease in specific area and formation of phosphate species.     

The functionalities of Pt-Mo catalysts in hydrotreatment reactions

The catalytic functionalities of bimetallic Pt-Mo/γ-Al₂O₃ catalysts in hydrotreatment were studied by performing simultaneous and independent dibenzothiophene (DBT) hydrodesulfurization (HDS) and naphthalene hydrodearomatization (HDA) reactions as a function of the activating agent and the MoO₃ content. Pt-Mo/γ-Al₂O₃ catalysts always displayed a higher selectivity to both the direct route of desulfurization (DDS) of DBT and to HDS over HDA than the one exhibited by conventional CoMo and NiMo/γ-Al₂O₃. It was established that for the Pt-Mo catalytic system, the selectivity DDS to the hydrogenation route of desulfurization of DBT can be indirectly described by the selectivity HDS/HDA in simultaneous HDS-HDA catalytic tests. The model of an active phase composed of separated metallic Pt particles, PtS_x species, and sulfided Mo which can either act as independent or cooperative active centers seems to be suitable to explain both the observed kinetic trends and the synergy effect between Pt and Mo.     

Deep desulfurization of diesel fuels: kinetic modeling of model compounds in trickle-bed

Five catalysts with different hydrodesulfurization (HDS) and hydrogenation activity were tested in HDS of fresh crude heavy atmospheric gas oil (HAGO) (1.33 wt% S), two partially hydrotreated HAGO (1100 and 115 ppm S) and two model compounds, dibenzothiophene (DBT) and 4,6-dimethyldibenzothiophene (DMDBT), dissolved in model solvents and HAGO. Aromatic compounds in the liquid decreased significantly the HDS rate of 4,6-DMDBT, especially for catalysts with high hydrogenation activity. H₂S displayed a similar inhibition effect with all catalysts. These effects were extremely pronounced in HAGO where the DBT HDS rate decreased by a factor of 10 while 4,6-DMDBT – of 20 relative to paraffinic solvent. The feasibility of using a highly active hydrogenation catalyst for deep HDS of HAGO is diminished by the strong impact of aromatics.     

Modulating the active phase structure of NiMo/Al2O3 by La modification for ultra-deep hydrodesulfurization of diesel

Herein, a series of mesoporous NiMo/LaAlO_x with various La contents were constructed through a solvent evaporation-induced self-assembly protocol, and their catalytic activities were investigated for hydrodesulfurization (HDS) of 4,6-DMDBT. It has been confirmed that the incorporation of La influences the electronic structure and morphology of NiMoS active phase. The lower amount of La (x ≤ 1.0 wt.%) could facilitate the formation of “Type II” NiMoS phase by weakening the interaction of Mo-O-Al leakage and promoting the sulfidation of both Mo and Ni species as well as increasing the ratio of “Type II” NiMoS phase, thereafter boosting the HDS performances. Further increasing La incorporation, however, leads to the generation of inactive NiS_x phase and decrease of NiMoS active phase proportion, the HDS activities of corresponding catalysts were suppressed. NiMo/LaAlO_x-1.0 exhibits the highest activity for 4,6-DMDBT HDS because of its moderate metal-support interaction, optimal morphology and the largest proportion of “Type II” NiMoS active phase.