Synthesis of Ni2P promoted trimetallic NiMoW/γ-Al2O3 catalysts for diesel oil hydrotreatment

The Ni2P promoted and γ-Al2O3 supported NiMoW sulfide catalyst consisting of 4 wt% Mo, 22 wt% W, 2 wt% Ni and 2.5 wt% Ni2P was synthesized by a co-impregnation method. The catalysts were characterized by N2 adsorption-desorption, X-ray diffraction (XRD), diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform (DRIFT) spectroscopy, NH3 temperature-programmed desorption (NH3-TPD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results showed that Ni2P, Ni, Mo and W species were highly dispersed over γ-Al2O3. The hydrodesulfurization (HDS) of dibenzothiophene (DBT) showed that the presence of Ni2P brought a strong promotional effect on the HDS activity, which was further confirmed by the HDS and hydrodenitrogenation (HDN) of diesel oil under industrial conditions. The enhancement in HDN activity and stability by Ni2P addition could be attributed more to the effect of new active sites of Ni2P than that of acidity modification. The as-prepared Ni2P-NiMoW/γ-Al2O3 catalyst showed better hydrotreating performance than NiMoW/γ-Al2O3 and commercial catalysts.