One-Pot Three-Dimensional Printing of a Hierarchical NiMo/Al2O3 Monolithic Catalyst for 4,6-Dimethyldibenzothiophene Hydrodesulfurization

The development of a competitive-cost and high-efficiencyNiMo/Al2O3 hydrodesulfurization (HDS) catalystremainschallenging in the field of petrochemical industry. Herein, a highlyefficient NiMo/Al2O3 monolithic HDS catalystwas elaborately designed and successfully fabricated via a one-potthree-dimensional (3D) printing strategy, and its HDS activity wasexamined for 4,6-dimethyldibenzothiophene conversion. The resultsunveil that the NiMo/Al2O3 monolithic catalystprepared by the 3D printing strategy (3D-NiMo/Al2O3) exhibits hierarchical structure due to the combustion ofhydroxymethyl cellulose serving as adhesive, which endows the weakermetal-support-interaction between Mo oxides and Al2O3, remarkably promoting sulfidation of both Mo and Ni speciesand the formation of Type II NiMoS active phase, therebyreducing the apparent activation energy (E (a) = 109.2 kJ & BULL;mol(-1)) and increasing the catalyticactivity (TOF = 4.0 h(-1)) and thereafter dramaticallyboosting the HDS performance of 3D-NiMo/Al2O3 compared with that of NiMo/Al2O3 (E (a) = 150.6 kJ & BULL;mol(-1) andTOF = 2.1 h(-1)) counterpart synthesized by conventionalmethod with P123 serving as the mesoporous template. Therefore, thisstudy offers a facile and straightforward strategy to fabricate anefficient HDS catalyst with hierarchical structures.

Automated summary

A hierarchical NiMo/Al2O3 catalyst was successfully fabricated using a 3D printing strategy, which significantly improved the hydrodesulfurization activity in the petrochemical industry.