Design of mesoporous KA zeolite supported sulfur-tolerant noble metal catalyst for naphthalene hydrogenation

As the demand for the high-quality transportation fuels grow rapidly, deep hydrogenation of diesel for aromatics reduction plays an important role in petroleum refinery. In this paper, a sulfur-tolerant noble metal hydrogenation catalyst, Pt/mesoporous KA zeolite (Pt/MKAZ), was developed based on the shape selective and hydrogen spillover concepts. Different kinds of catalysts were prepared by carefully adjusting the contents of Pt in the cages of MKAZ and its additional mesopore channels, and their performances were tested in naphthalene hydrogenation with either 3 mol% of H2S in hydrogen or 3000 ppm of dibenzothiophene (DBT) in naphthalene feedstock. The results indicated that the distributions of Pt in both cages and mesopore channels of MKAZ could be controlled well and the resultant catalyst with an optimized nanostructure showed an excellent sulfur resistance in naphthalene hydrogenation due to a synergetic effect of Pt confined in the cages and mesopore channels. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.