Synthesis of unsupported nanotube and flower-like nickel based structures as novel catalyst for ultra-low desulfurization of heavy gas oil at mild condition

Abstract

ABSTRACT Development of heavy gas oil (HGO) desulphurisation (DS) through altering the composition of employed catalysts is crucial to enhance the quality of clean fuels production. Therefore, this research work reports an effective low-cost desulphurization performance for HGO fraction using unsupported nickel particles, of mixed compositions, having morphologies as nanotube and nanoflower-like as novel catalysts. The introduced structures were synthesised by electroless deposition technique using two reducing agents. The various characteristics of these catalysts were confirmed by XRD, TEM, BET and TGA analysis. The results of gas oil desulfurization revealed that the use of different reducing agents during the preparation stage could have an effect on the level of sulfur removal. Particularly, the produced catalyst by using methylamine, as a reducing agent, could have stronger affinity towards DS process compared to that of the obtained catalyst by hydrazine. Specifically, the catalyst of the superior DS activity could exhibit 97.5% sulfur removal from a heavy gas oil feedstock contains 10,000 ppm as sulfur content.