Abstract
SYNOPSIS: There have been a number of studies on the hydrodesulfurization catalysts, because it is an important process to remove sufur compounds from liquid petroleum fractions. However, there seems to be no evidence of elucidating what is the active species in the catalysis.
The object of this article is to review the investigations of the activities and chemical structures of the catalysts employed in the hydrodesulfurization of organic sulfur compounds.
The activities of the catalysts are dependent upon the method of catalyst preparation as well as the composition of their components. Generally, each component of active catalysts consisting of the mixed system is inactive by itself for the hydrodesulfurization. Therefore, it is likely that new compounds may be formed in the fresh or in the sulfided catalysts. One of highly active catalysts is composed of Co-Mo-γ-Al2O3. Thus, mainly with respect to this catalyst, the chemical structure and reaction mechanism are elucidated and discussed.
