Hydrofining of Coal Tar Light Oil to Produce High Octane Gasoline Blending Components over γ-Al2O3- and η-Al2O3-Supported Catalysts

Abstract

The effectiveness and suitability for hydroconversion of coal tar light oil (CTLO), a byproduct from the coal chemical industry, were studied over γ-Al2O3- and η-Al2O3-supported Ni–Mo and Co–Mo catalysts in a continuous fixed-bed reactor. This work focused on eliminating sulfur-, nitrogen-, and oxygen-containing heterocycles with a smaller loss of octane number and producing high octane gasoline blending components (HOGB) with high value. Ni–Mo catalysts showed better hydrodesulfurization (HDS) and hydrodenitrogenation (HDN) activity than that of Co–Mo catalysts. In addition to active metal components, the overall performance of the catalyst was also closely associated with the type of support. Higher density of medium strength acid sites, better dispersion of active components, and weaker metal–support interaction jointly contributed to the higher activity of η-Al2O3-supported catalysts. Compared with γ-Al2O3, η-Al2O3-supported catalysts possessed more octahedrally coordinated Mo species, thus more highl...