Active-phase construction and hydrodesulfurization activity evaluation of supported MoS2-based hydrogenation catalysts designed with spatial confinement strategy
Based on the structural design of the active phase of the supported NiMo hydrodesulfurization catalyst,a"spatial confinement strategy"was adopted in order to achieve the structure design of the active MoS2 phase with a natural tubular hal-loysite nanotube(HNT)with 10~30 nm inner diameter as support,ammonium thiomolybdate and nickel nitrate were select-ed as metal precursors,and incipient-wetness impregnation method was applied to prepare a series of bimetallic NiMo/HNT catalysts.The structure of the as-prepared catalysts has been characterized with XRD,BET,HRTEM-EDS mapping and XPS.The desulfurization activity of the catalyst was evaluated with dibenzothiophene(DBT)as a model compound.It is found that the dimensions of the active MoS2 phase can be effectively controlled with the HNT support.Almost all the Mo and Ni metal components in the catalysts are located inside the pores of the support and present a native intimate contact state.Meanwhile,Ni and Mo components show a higher sulfidation degree and the synergy effect is better.The hydrodesulfurization activity and hydrogenation selectivity of the NiMo/HNT catalysts are significantly higher than those of the reference catalyst u-sing typical alumina support.The highest DBT conversion,reaction rate and hydrogenation selectivity can be be increased up to 41.6%,92%and 60%,respectively.