Hydrodesulfurization activity of NiMo/TiO2single bondAl2O3 catalysts Original Research Article

The hydrodesulfurization activities and other physico-chemical properties of NiMo/TiO2single bondAl2O3 catalysts were studied and compared with those of a commercial NiMo/Al2O3 catalyst. The TiO2single bondAl2O3 mixed oxides carrier was prepared by impregnating Al2O3 with an ethanol solution of TiCl4 or an isoproponol solution of Ti(C4H9O)4. The active component MoO3 and the promoter NiO were supported by impregnation of a mixed solution of Ni(NO3)2·6H2O and (NH4)6Mo7O24·4H2O. BET measurements showed no large decrease of surface area or pore volume for the carrier and catalyst-containing TiO2. LRS data demonstrated that TiO2 on Al2O3 was present as the anatase phase, and only the vibration band of Modouble bond; length as m-dashO at 960 cm−1 appeared over NiMo/TiO2single bondAl2O3 when TiO2 loading was less than 20 wt %. TPS results reveal that the presence of TiO2 can facilitate sulfidation of Mosingle bondO species. Catalytic activity measurements showed that NiMo/TiO2single bondAl2O3 catalysts without presulfiding exhibited very high HDS activity for a model reactant containing 100 ppm thiophene or industrial naphtha. The capability of sulphur removal over the non-pretreated NiMo/TiO2single bondAl2O3 catalyst is even better than over a sulfided commercial hydrotreating NiMo/Al2O3 catalyst.