Ni and Mo interaction with Al-containing MCM-41 support and its effect on the catalytic behavior in DBT hydrodesulfurization

A series of Mo and NiMo catalysts supported on Al-containing MCM-41 was prepared and characterized by N2 physisorption, XRD, ammonia TPD, temperature programmed reduction (TPR), UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) and 27 Al MAS-NMR. It was shown that the incorporation of Al atoms into the siliceous MCM-41 framework causes a deterioration of the textural characteristics and some loss in the periodicity of the MCM-41 pore structure. However, the acidity of the Al-containing MCM-41 is substantially higher. The dispersion of Mo and Ni oxidic species increases with the incorporation of aluminum in the MCM-41 support due to the strong interaction of Mo and Ni oxidic species with aluminum atoms of the support. However, the strong interaction of metal species with the Al-containing MCM-41 supports, up to the formation of Al2(MoO4)3 in the case of unpromoted Mo catalysts, produces an increase in the proportion of Ni and Mo species difficult to reduce. When Ni and Mo are impregnated simultaneously the formation of Al2(MoO4)3 is prevented because of the competitive interaction of both, Ni and Mo species, with Al atoms of the support. For both, Mo and NiMo catalysts, maximum catalytic activity in dibenzothiophene (DBT) hydrodesulfurization is observed for the catalysts supported on Al-MCM-41 with SiO2/Al2O3 molar ratio of 30. When Al-containing MCM-41 is used as a support for NiMo catalyst, some cracking of the main reaction products (biphenyl (BiP), cyclohexylbenzene (CHB) and dicyclohexyl (DCH)) is observed.