Effects of tungsten on the catalytic activity of Ni–W catalysts for the hydrogenation of aromatic hydrocarbons

Abstract

Nano Ni–W catalysts with different tungsten contents prepared by mixing alkaline nickel carbonate with ammonium tungstate show high activity and good sulfur tolerance for hydrogenation of thiophene-containing ethylbenzene. The catalysts were characterized by XRD, TPR, SEM, Raman and BET. The results show that the activity of the catalysts for ethylbenzene hydrogenation is affected profoundly by W loading and the best result was obtained on catalyst with W/Ni ratio equal to 0.16. The increase of activity of the catalyst can be attributed to the interaction between Ni and W doped and the increase of the surface area of the catalyst.