Ultrasound assisted synthesis of nanometric Ni, Co, NiMo and CoMo HDS catalysts

In the present work, ultrasound assisted synthesis of NiS, CoS, NiMoS and CoMoS was studied. Solids thus obtained were characterized by X-ray diffraction, confocal microscopy, chemical analysis, surface area determinations, and their activities in thiophene and benzothiophene hydrodesulfurization (HDS) were also evaluated. It was found that NiMo catalyst was 5 and 2.4 times more active than NiS, in thiophene and benzothiophene HDS, respectively, while CoMo was 6.4 and 3.2 more active than CoS for the same reactions. It is proposed that the high activity for bimetallic solids is due to the precipitation of a mixed sulfide in nanometric size particles.