Ultradeep Hydrodesulfurization of Feedstock Containing Cracked Gasoil through NiMo/γ-Al2O3 Catalyst Pore Size Optimization

Abstract

The importance of ultra-deep hydrodesulfurization (HDS) of the cracked and straight run gasoil blend necessitate an extensive study on HDS catalyst optimization. Herein, we report a CO2 assisted neutralization of NaAlO2 aqueous solution conducted in a semi-batch membrane dispersion microstructured reactor, as a novel method to synthesize pseudoboehmite powders with different textural properties. A number of γ-Al2O3 catalyst supports as well as NiMo catalysts with the average pore sizes of 6.3 (5.2) to 21.5 (18.6) nm and 5.0 (3.7) to 20.3 (17.2) nm are prepared using the as synthesized pseudoboehmite powders. XRD analysis shows the sizes of all pseudoboehmite and γ-Al2O3 supports crystalline are in the nanoscale range. NH3 TPD results reveal that about half of the total NH3 (1.76 mmol NH3/g) is adsorbed on the surface of γ-Al2O3 support due to presence of strong acidic cites. FTIR spectrometer confirms formation of MoO4−2 species. The effects of catalyst pore size on HDS performance of the straight run gas...