Development of new catalysts for deep hydrodesulfurization of gas oil

Abstract

TiO 2–Al 2O 3 composite supports have been prepared by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) over γ-Al 2O 3 substrate, using TiCl 4 as the precursor. High dispersion of TiO 2 overlayer on the surface of Al 2O 3 has been obtained, and no cluster formation has been detected. The catalytic behavior of Mo supported on Al 2O 3, TiO 2 and TiO 2–Al 2O 3 composite has been investigated for the hydrodesulfurization (HDS) of dibenzothiophene (DBT) and methyl-substituted DBT derivatives. The conversion over the Mo catalysts supported on TiO 2–Al 2O 3 composite, in particular for the HDS of 4,6-dimethyldibenzothiophene (4,6-DMDBT) is much higher than that of conversion obtained over Mo catalyst supported on Al 2O 3. The ratio of the corresponding cyclohexylbenzenes/biphenyls is increased over Mo catalyst supported on TiO 2–Al 2O 3 composite support. This means that the reaction rate of prehydrogenation of an aromatic ring rather than the rate of hydrogenolysis of C–S bond cleavage is accelerated for the HDS of DBT derivatives. The Mo/TiO 2–Al 2O 3 catalyst leads to higher catalytic performance for deep HDS of gas oil.