Tuning of activity and selectivity of Ni/(Al)SBA-15 catalysts in naphthalene hydrogenation

Boosting the Hydrodeoxygenation Activity and Selectivity of Ni/(M)-SBA-15 Catalysts by Chemical Alteration of the Support

The influence of the acid sites in the hydrodeoxygenation of anisole performed over Ni catalysts supported on SBA-15 modified with metal oxides (Ni/M-SBA-15, M = Ti, Zr, Al, or Nb) was demonstrated. Catalysts were characterized by SEM-EDX, nitrogen physisorption, XRD, UV-visible DRS, TPR, TPD of ammonia, IR-Py, O2 chemisorption, and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. The mesoporous structure and the hexagonal arrangement of the supports were maintained in the catalysts. Ni catalysts supported on modified M-SBA-15 exhibited a higher metal-support interaction, an increase in the acidity and, as a consequence, improved selectivity to cyclohexane. The deoxygenation reaction rate constants increased as Ni/SBA-15 < Ni/Ti-SBA-15 < Ni/Nb-SBA-15 < Ni/Zr-SBA-15 < Ni/Al-SBA-15, which is attributed to the increase in the amount and strength of acid sites, especially of the Brønsted ones, which promotes the cleavage of the C-O bond. It is also important to keep the metal/acid sites together to obtain high activity and selectivity to hydrodeoxygenated products.

Influence of Reduction Temperature on the Structure and Naphthalene Hydrogenation Saturation Performance of Ni2P/Al2O3 Catalysts

Jet fuel rich in hydroaromatics and cycloalkanes could be derived from direct coal liquefaction oil via the hydrogenation saturation process. Developing an efficient catalyst to transform naphthalene hydrocarbons to hydroaromatics and cycloalkanes with high selectivity plays a significant role in realizing the above hydrogenation saturation process. In this work, Ni2P/Al2O3 catalysts were prepared at different reduction temperatures via the thermal decomposition of hypophosphite. We investigated the influence of reduction temperature and the results showed that reduction temperature had an important impact on the properties of Ni2P/Al2O3 catalysts. When the reduction temperature was 400 °C, the Ni2P particle size of the Ni2P/Al2O3 catalyst was 3.8 nm and its specific surface area was 170 m2/g. Furthermore, the Ni2P/Al2O3 catalyst reduced at 400 °C obtained 98% naphthalene conversion and 98% decalin selectivity. The superior catalytic activity was attributed to the smaller Ni2P particle size, higher specific surface area and suitable acidity, which enhanced the adsorption of naphthalene on Ni2P/Al2O3 catalyst.

Effect of the Gallium and Vanadium on the Dibenzothiophene Hydrodesulfurization and Naphthalene Hydrogenation Activities Using Sulfided NiMo-V2O5/Al2O3-Ga2O3

The effect of Ga and V as support-modifier and promoter of NiMoV/Al2O3-Ga2O3 catalyst on hydrogenation (HYD) and hydrodesulfurization (HDS) activities was studied. The catalysts were characterized by elemental analysis, textural properties, XRD, XPS, EDS elemental mapping and High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The chemical analyses by X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) and CHNS-O elemental analysis showed results for all compounds in agreement, within experimental accuracy, according to stoichiometric values proposed to Mo/Ni = 6 and (V+Ni)/(V+Ni+Mo) = 0.35. The sol-gel synthesis method increased the surface area by incorporation of Ga3+ ions into the Al2O3 forming Ga-O-Al bonding; whereas the impregnation synthesis method leads to decrease by blocking of alumina pores, as follows NiMoV/Al-Ga(1%-I) < NiMoV/Al-Ga(1%-SG) < NiMo/Al2O3 < Al2O3-Ga2O3(1%-I) < Al2O3-Ga2O3(1%-SG) < Al2O3, propitiating Dp-BJH between 6.18 and 7.89 nm. XRD confirmed a bulk structure typical of (NH4)4[NiMo6O24H6]•5H2O and XPS the presence at the surface of Mo4+, Mo6+, NixSy, Ni2+, Ga3+ and V5+ species, respectively. The EDS elemental mapping confirmed that Ni, Mo, Al, Ga, V and S are well-distributed on Al2O3-Ga2O3(1%-SG) support. The HRTEM analysis shows that the length and stacking distribution of MoS2 crystallites varied from 5.07 to 5.94 nm and 2.74 to 3.58 with synthesis method (SG to I). The results of the characterization sulfided catalysts showed that the synthesis method via impregnation induced largest presence of gallium on the surface influencing the dispersion V5+ species, this effect improves the dispersion of the MoS2 phase and increasing the number of active sites, which correlates well with the dibenzothiophene HDS and naphthalene HYD activities. The dibenzothiophene HDS activities with overall pseudo-first-order rate constants’ values (kHDS) from 1.65 to 7.07 L/(h·mol·m2) follow the order: NiMoV-S/Al-Ga(1%-I) < NiMo-S/Al2O3 < NiMoV-S/Al-Ga(1%-SG), whereas the rate constants’ values (k) of naphthalene HYD from 0.022 to 2.23 L/(h·mol·m2) as follow: NiMoV-S/Al-Ga(1%-SG) < NiMo-S/Al2O3 < NiMoV-S/Al-Ga(1%-I). We consider that Ga and V act as structural promoters in the NiMo catalysts supported on Al2O3 that allows the largest generation of BRIM sites for HYD and CUS sites for DDS.