Co-processing of hydrodeoxygenation and hydrodesulfurization of phenol and dibenzothiophene with NiMo/Al2O3–ZrO2 and NiMo/TiO2–ZrO2 catalysts

Abstract

Abstract The influence of Al2O3–ZrO2 and TiO2–ZrO2 supports on NiMo-supported catalysts at a different sulfur concentration in a model hydrodeoxygenation (HDO)-hydrodesulfurization (HDS) co-processing reaction has been studied in this work. A competition effect between phenol and dibenzothiophene (DBT) for active sites was evidenced. The competence for the active sites between phenol and DBT was measured by comparison of the initial reaction rate and selectivity at two sulfur concentrations (200 and 500 ppm S). NiMo/TiO2–ZrO2 was almost four-fold more active in phenol HDO co-processed with DBT than NiMo/Al2O3–ZrO2 catalyst. Consequently, more labile active sites are present on NiMo/TiO2–ZrO2 than in NiMo/Al2O3–ZrO2 confirmed by the decrease in co-processing competition for the active sites between phenol and DBT. DBT molecules react at hydrogenolysis sites (edge and rim) preferentially so that phenol reacts at hydrogenation sites (edge and edge). However, the hydrogenated capacity would be lost when the sulfur content was increased. In general, both catalysts showed similar functionalities but different degrees of competition according to the highly active NiMoS phase availability. TiO2–ZrO2 as the support provided weaker metal-support interaction than Al2O3–ZrO2, generating a larger fraction of easily reducible octahedrally coordinated Mo- and Ni-oxide species, causing that NiMo/TiO2–ZrO2 generated precursors of MoS2 crystallites with a longer length and stacking but with a higher degree of Ni-promotion than NiMo/Al2O3–ZrO2 catalyst.