Effects of Titanocene Dichloride on Hydrodesulfurization of Dibenzothiophene and of Hydrodeoxygenation of Dibenzofuran

Abstract

The effects of titanocene dichloride on dibenzothiophene hydrodesulfurization and dibenzofuran hydrodeoxygenation over three different kinds of catalysts were studied by using a Berty type gradientless reactor. The reaction rates and the rate constants were calculated by assuming a pseudo-first order reaction model. By comparing the reactant conversion and the rate constants, titanocene dichloride did not appear to have any effect on dibenzothiophene hydrodesulfurization either over NiMo/alumina or over CoMo/alumina but it increased the catalyst activity in the case of dibenzofuran hydrodeoxygenation over both NiMo/alumina and CoMo/alumina catalyst. No conversion was observed in all of the experimental runs which were done over plain alumina. The coke content of NiMo/alumina catalyst in the hydrodeoxygenation run was found to be lower while that of CoMo/alumina catalyst in both hydrodeoxygenation and hydrodesulfurization runs appeared to be higher with the addition of titanocene dichloride.