Effect of Support on the Performance of CoMoRe Catalyst in Thiophene and Benzothiophene Hydrodesulfurization

This work is aimed at selection of a suitable support for CoMoRe catalyst in hydrodesulfurization (HDS) of thiophenes. gamma-Al2O3 and gamma-Al2O3-HMS were used as a support for CoMoRe catalyst with 4%Co, 8%Mo and 0.5%Re loading. The metal loading was incorporated by using the pore volume impregnation method, employing aqueous solutions of cobalt (II) nitrate, ammonium molibdate and rhenium (VII) oxide. The catalysts were sulfided with dimethyl disulphide at 250 degrees C for 10 h and finally tested in the HDS reaction of thiophene and benzothiophene in different temperature and pressure conditions. The catalysts were characterized by determining the adsorption isotherms, the pore size distribution and the acid strengt, FTIR, XRD and S EM The catalyst supported on gamma-Al2O3 displayed higher activity than catalyst supported on gamma-Al2O3 -HMS. The results suggest that activity is favoured by the suitable textural and acidic properties of the support.