Co-promotion of fluorine and boron on NiMo/Al2O3 for hydrotreating light cycle oil

Abstract

A hydrotreating catalyst, NiMo/Al₂O₃, was modified with different amounts of fluorine (F) and boron (B) through the pore-saturated impregnation method. The resulting catalysts were characterized by BET, pyridine-IR, XPS, and TEM techniques. Incorporation of fluorine and boron led to the variations in the catalyst acidity and the dispersion of active metals, causing direct impacts on the hydrotreating activities of the catalysts. The hydrodesulfurization (HDS), hydrodenitrogenation (HDN) and hydrodearomatization (HDA) activities of the catalysts were examined in an autoclave reactor using real light cycle oil as feed. The HDS activity decreased in the order NiMo/F,B-Al(5.0) > NiMo/F,B-Al(7.0) > NiMo/F,B-Al(3.5), indicating the existence of an optimum amount of F and B.