Sol–gel synthesis of titania–alumina catalyst supports Original Research Article

Titanium oxide is a good candidate as new support for hydrotreating (HDT) catalysts, but has the inconvenience of presenting small surface area and poor thermal stability. To overcome these handicaps TiO2–Al2O3 mixed oxides were proposed as catalyst support. Here, the results concerning the preparation, characterization and testing of molybdenum catalyst supported on titania–alumina are presented. The support was prepared by sol–gel route using titanium and aluminum isopropoxides, chelated with acetylacetone (acac) to promote similar hydrolysis ratio for both the alcoxides. The effect of nominal complexing ratios [acac]/[Ti] and of sol aging temperature on the structural features of nanometric particles was analyzed by quasi-elastic light scattering (QELS) and N2 adsorption isotherm measurements. These characterizations have shown that the addition of acac and the increase of aging temperature favor the full dispersion of primary nanoparticles in mother acid solution. The dried powder presents a monomodal distribution of slit-shaped micropores, formed by irregular packing of platelet primary particles, surface area superior to 200 m2 g−1 and mean pore size of about 1 nm. These characteristics of porous texture are preserved after firing at 673 K. The diffraction patterns of sample fired above 973 K show only the presence of anatase crystalline phase. The crystalline structure of the support remained unaltered after molybdenum adsorption, but the surface area and the micropore volume were drastically reduced.