Naphtha hydrodesulfurization over micro and nanostructure MoO3 catalysts

Highly active unsupported MoO3 and Co−MoO3 catalysts were prepared by a simple solution reaction method in the presence of different organic additives. Catalysts were characterized by the XRD, BET surface area measurement, SEM and TEM techniques. Results suggested that utilizing different additives produced different morphologies of MoO3 microstructures. Optimizing reaction conditions was found to produce more active molybdenum oxide nanoparticles when urea and PEG200 additives were utilized. XRD and TEM results indicated crystal growth restriction after cobalt incorporation. Catalytic activities of prepared materials were evaluated in the hydrodesulfurization reaction of Naphtha. Products were analyzed by XRF to determine the residual sulfur content of the feed after the reaction occurred. It was concluded that nanostructures and promoted catalysts had higher activities than microstructure samples. Ultimately, the reaction over the urea-prepared promoted catalyst decreased the sulfur content of the feed of Naphtha from 2420 to 24 ppm, which is considerably lower than that of commercial catalysts.