Construction of high content CoMoS active sites through the combination of Co5Mo10 molecular precursors and inert carbon matrix support for deep hydrodesulfurization

Abstract

The rational design of high sulfurization and abundant CoMoS active phases catalysts is the key to drive the industrialization of hydrodesulfurization (HDS). Herein, we prepared a nano-catalyst with well-dispersed and numerous CoMoS active sites through confining Co3(II)[Co2(III)Mo10O38H4] (Co5Mo10) polyoxometalates (POMs) molecules with high Co/Mo ratio in hollow mesoporous carbon spheres (HMCS). On the one hand, POMs acted as pre-assembled molecular platform can build and regulate the structure of active phases by precisely adjusting the Co/Mo atomic ratio at molecular level. Meanwhile, the intimate interaction of Co-Mo on the POMs precursor also ensures that the Co species mainly exists as Co-promoted MoS2 active phase after the sulfidation process, thus the highly efficient synergism of the bimetals can be fully utilized in the reaction. On the other hand, the mesoporous carbon sphere with homogeneous pore size and high specific surface area can effectively confine the growth of the catalyst to disperse the active metals. The weakening metal–metal interaction property of such inert support enables the S-Co5Mo10/HMCS-10 catalyst to realize higher sulfurization, shorter slab length and higher stacking number. In addition, the abundant mesopores and high pore capacity of support greatly facilitate the mass transfer process and provide sufficient space for the HDS reaction as the nanoreactor. The unique combination of POMs and HMCS enabled the S-Co5Mo10/H10 catalyst to achieve up to 99.2% conversion of dibenzothiophene (DBT) after 4 h of HDS reaction, while obtaining a TOF value of 1.3 × 10−3 s−1 (calculated when keeping the low conversion at 42% after 0.5 h of reaction). The structural orientation of the POMs precursors to the active phases of HDS catalysts was investigated using various characterization methods, and the structure–activity relationship between the catalytic performance and the sulfide active phases was also revealed in this work.