Efficient hydrodesulfurization of dibenzothiophene over core-shell Ni/Al2O3@SOD and Mo/Al2O3 composite catalysts

One composite catalyst, consisting of sulfur-tolerant Ni/Al2O3@SOD and MoS2/Al2O3, was developed for the hydrodesulfurization of dibenzothiophene. The sulfur-resistant Ni/Al2O3@SOD core-shell catalyst was prepared by coating a Ni/Al2O3 core with a sodalite (SOD) shell via the gel hydrothermal method. The SOD shell (d = 0.3 nm) can block the entry of the smallest sulfur-containing molecules (hydrogensulfide d = 0.36 nm) while allowing hydrogen molecules (d = 0.29 nm) to diffuse to produce hydrogen spillover. With the excellent hydrogen spillover effect of the well-protected Ni, the composite catalyst (core-shell Ni/Al2O3@SOD-MoS2/Al2O3) showed high catalytic activity and selectivity of the direct desulfurization pathway in the hydrodesulfurization (HDS) of dibenzothiophene. Compared with the composite catalysts (Pt/Al2O3@SOD-MoS2/Al2O3) using noble metal Pt, the transition metal Ni composite catalyst exhibited broad hydrodesulfurization application prospects.