Advantages of ZrO2- and TiO2–SBA-15 mesostructured supports for hydrodesulfurization catalysts over pure TiO2, ZrO2 and SBA-15

In the present paper, we tried to illustrate the advantages that have ZrO2- and TiO2-containing mesoporous ordered SBA-15 materials in comparison with their pure oxide counterparts (SBA-15 silica, ZrO2 and TiO2) and γ-alumina when used as supports to prepare hydrodesulfurization (HDS) catalysts. To reach this aim, Mo catalysts supported on above materials were prepared and tested in dibenzothiophene HDS. The results show that Mo catalysts supported on TiO2- and especially ZrO2–SBA-15 are more active than all other samples including reference Mo/γ-Al2O3. To inquire into the reasons of this behavior, supports and catalysts were characterized by N2 physisorption, X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), isoelectric point (IEP), temperature-programmed reduction (TPR) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM).