A new preparation method of molybdenum sulfide catalysts was in-vestigated using sulfur-containing organometallics in order to improve hydrogenation (HY) activities of the catalysts. Mo and Ni-Mo catalysts were prepared by impregant-ing sulfur-containing organometallics onto an alumina support. After drying and calcin-ing in N2, model test reactions were carried out to evaluate HY activities of newly pre-pared catalysts. Hydrogenation of aromatic rings proceeded to a large extent over new types of Mo catalysts prepared using sulfur-containing Mo organometallics. This is mainly due to much higher dispersion of MoS2 species on the catalysts than those on con-ventional catalysts prepared using impregantion of inorganics, calcination in air, and presulfurization. Sulfur-containing Ni organometallics also gave higher HY activities of Ni-Mo catalysts as compared to Ni inorganics such as nickel nitrate. The highest HY activities of Ni-Mo catalysts were obtained when molybdenum dithiophosphate and nickel dialkyl-dithiocarbamate were used for catalyst preparation. This new preparation method of the sulfide catalysts clearly showed forther possibility of considerable im-provement in sulfide catalyst preparation.
