Synthesis of NiMo/Al2O3 nanocatalyst via supercritical fluid technology

The synthesis of NiMo/Al2O3 nanocatalyst by the method of supercritical deposition using carbon dioxide and methanol was conducted and its activity was investigated as the function of conversion and selectivity. The results of the physical and chemical characterization techniques (adsorption-desorption of nitrogen, oxygen chemisorption, XRD, TEM, and TPR) demonstrated high and uniform dispersion of Ni and Mo on the Al2O3 support for the new developed catalyst. The hydrodesulfurization of fuel model compound, dibenzothiophene, was used in the evaluation of the newly developed catalyst versus the commercial catalyst. Higher conversion for the NiMo/Al2O3 nanocatalyst was obtained. The kinetic analysis of the reaction data was carried out to calculate the reaction rate constant of the synthesized and commercial catalysts in the temperature rang of 270–330 °C. Analysis of the experimental data using Arrhenius' law resulted in the calculation of frequency factor and activation energy of the hydrodesulfurization for the two catalysts.