A influência da acidez do suporte de catalisadores Ni-Mo sobre a atividade da reação de hidrogenação de aromáticos e abertura de ciclo naftênico

Abstract

Three sulfided catalysts with the same active phase content (20 wt% of molybdenum oxide and 4 wt% of nickel oxide) and deposited on different supports (alumina, silica-alumina and alumina-Y zeolite) were prepared aiming to obtain bifunctional catalysts with different acidities and good dispersion of the sulfide phase for analyzing the role of the support acidity on the hydroconversion of tetraline. The supports and respective catalysts were characterized in the oxide and sulfide forms and were evaluated for the hydroconversion of tetraline, which is representative of the monoaromatic compounds present in the diesel fraction. The textural characterization indicated that the specific surface areas as well as the pore volumes were very little affected by the impregnation of the metal oxides in the supports. The catalysts presented a relatively good dispersion of the active phase as indicated by TEM, XRD and DRS results. Pyridine IR spectroscopy and n-propylamine TPD results showed an increase of Brönsted acidity after impregnation of molybdenum and nickel oxides, which were attributed to the creation of new acidic sites associated to the supported molybdenum oxide or to sites at the interface of this oxide with the support. A good correlation of the support Brönsted acidity with the overall conversion of tetraline was observed, as well as with the aromatic and ring opening product yields. The following activity ranking for tetraline conversion was observed: NiMo/alumina < NiMo/silica-alumina < NiMo/alumina-zeolite. An increase of the hydrogenation product yields with the support acidity was also observed which was ascribed to an electronic effect between the support acidic Brönsted sites and the sulfide particles. However, for alumina-zeolite supported catalyst, where acidic and hydrogenating sites are not in close vicinity, an alternative reaction route was proposed considering the hydrogenation of the methyl-indane formed by tetraline isomerization on the Brönsted sites.