Thiolation of dimethyl sulfide to methanethiol over WO3/ZrO2 catalysts

The thiolation of dimethyl sulfide with H2S over a variety of tungsten–zirconia (WO3/ZrO2) catalysts with different contents of WO3 was studied. The maximum yield of methanethiol was obtained at the reaction temperature of 633 K in the presence of 10 wt.%WO3/ZrO2 catalyst. XRD, BET and TPD characterization results reveal that supporting WO3 species on ZrO2 gives rise to the improvement of both in structure stability and surface acidity. The MT yield increased first and then decreased with the increase of reaction temperature for all of the catalysts due to the decomposition of methanethiol and dimethyl sulfide. The optimum loading of WO3 was found to be 5–10 wt.% (with a surface density of 3.5–4.5 w-atom nm−2). Furthermore, the WO3/ZrO2 catalyst exhibits high resistance to water.

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► The DMS and H2S were used to synthesize MT, an important chemical intermediate.
► The WO3/ZrO2 catalyst was first applied to the thiolation of DMS.
► The effect of water on the thiolation of DMS to MT was studied.