A study on catalytic activity of modified Ni–Re/Al-SBA-15 catalyst for hydrodenitrogenation of o-toluidine

To elucidate the influence of Al content and effect of Ni loading on the structure and catalytic activity for hydrodenitrogenation reaction of o-toluidine, a series of mesoporous Al-SBA-15 supported Ni–Re sulphided catalysts were prepared. The textural and chemical properties of support and catalyst were analysed using XRD, N2-sorption studies, DRS UV–Vis, SEM, HRTEM, NH3-TPD, TPR and XPS. These characterizations indicate that the incorporation of Al content into the SBA-15 framework leads to the formation of moderate acid sites, which shows enhanced catalytic activity. The maximum catalytic activity in 1 wt%Ni-5wt%Re/Al-SBA-15(10) catalyst is due to fine dispersion of Re and Ni over the support, strong metal–support interaction, high degree of sulphidation and more sulphur atoms on the surface.