Kinetic Studies of Hydrodesulphurization of Dibenzothiophen on a Ni2P/MCM-41 Catalyst

Abstract

The MCM-41 supported nickel phosphide catalyst was successfully prepared by impregnation of nickel phosphate precursors with MCM-41 support, followed by reduction of the precursors in hydrogen at 923 K. The as prepared Ni2P/MCM-41 catalyst was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and N2-adsorption specific surface area measurements (BET). The effects of reaction temperature, pressure, weight hourly space velocity (WHSV) and hydrogen to oil volume ratio (H2/Oil) on DBT HDS performance over Ni2P/MCM-41 were investigated with the model gasoline containing DBT. Finely, the kinetics for the DBT HDS over Ni2P/ MCM-41 catalyst was studied. The results showed that the active phase formed over Ni2P/M CM-41 catalyst was mainly Ni2P. The DBT conversion increased with increasing the reaction temperature, pressure, and H2/Oil ratio. However, increasing the WHSV would lead to a decrease in DBT conversion over Ni2P/ MCM-41 catalyst. A Langmuir–Hinshelwood model was used to analyze the kinetic data and to derive activation energy. In addition, take the effects of the pressure of H2 and H2/oil ratio into account, the modified kinetic model is also proposed: 1/(1–x)–1 = 10086.97e120.72RTp2.534H (H2/Oil)2.471WHSV–1.217.