Hydrodesulfurization of dibenzothiophenes over molybdenum catalyst supported on TiO 2–Al 2O 3

Abstract

Composite types of TiO 2–Al 2O 3 supports, which are γ-aluminas coated by titania, have been prepared by chemical vapor deposition (CVD), using TiCl 4 as a precursor. Then supported molybdenum catalysts have been prepared by an impregnation method. As supports, we employed γ-alumina, anatase types of titania, and composite types of TiO 2–Al 2O 3 with different loadings of TiO 2. We studied the conversion of Mo from oxidic to sulfidic state through sulfurization by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The obtained spectra unambiguously revealed the higher reducibility from oxidic to sulfidic molybdenum species on the TiO 2 and TiO 2–Al 2O 3 supports compared to that on the Al 2O 3 support. Higher TiO 2 loadings of the TiO 2–Al 2O 3 composite support led to higher reducibility for molybdenum species. Furthermore, the catalytic behavior of supported molybdenum catalysts has been investigated for hydrodesulfurization (HDS) of dibenzothiophene (DBT) and methyl-substituted DBT derivatives. The conversion over the TiO 2–Al 2O 3 supported Mo catalysts, in particular for the 4,6-dimethyl-DBT, is much higher than that obtained over Al 2O 3 supported Mo catalyst. The ratio of the corresponding cyclohexylbenzene (CHB)/biphenyl (BP) derivatives is increased over the Mo/TiO 2–Al 2O 3. This indicates that the prehydrogenation of an aromatic ring plays an important role in the HDS of DBT derivatives over TiO 2–Al 2O 3 supported catalysts.