Characterization and hydrodesulfurization catalysis on WS2 supported on mesoporous Al-HMS material

Hexagonal mesoporous silica (HMS) and Al-HMS materials with high surface area and mesoporous structure were synthesized following the neutral templating path way. These materials were used as a support for the first time in preparing W/HMS, and W/Al-HMS catalysts and their Co, and Ni promoted analogues. On Al-HMS support (Si/Al = 35) the tungsten loading was varied from 10 to 25 wt.%. On a catalyst containing 21 wt.% W the promoter concentration was varied from 1 to 5 wt.%. Oxygen uptakes and crystallite sizes of WS2 derived from it indicated that WS2 is well dispersed at all the loadings studied. The hydrodesulfurization and hydrogenation activities varied in a similar manner to that of oxygen uptakes as a function of W loading indicating that there exists a correlation between oxygen chemisorption and catalytic sites. The HMS and AI-HMS mesoporous material supported WS2 catalysts showed outstanding activities in comparison with WS2 supported on gamma -Al2O3. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.