Preparation of Fe2P/Al2O3 and FeP/Al2O3 catalysts for the hydrotreating reactions

Abstract A 60%Fe/Al 2 O 3 catalyst was prepared by the co-precipitation method. It was reduced by H 2 to produce metallic Fe, which was then sulfided by CS 2 to Fe 0.96 S and Fe 3 S 4 or phosphided by triphenylphosphine (PPh 3 ) in liquid phases to Fe 2 P and FeP. It was found that the iron sulfides (Fe 0.96 S and Fe 3 S 4 ) exhibited the low activity for the hydrodesulfurization (HDS) reactions. The HDS activity was also low on the Fe(metal)/Al 2 O 3 and Fe 2 P/Al 2 O 3 catalysts since they were converted into Fe 0.96 S and Fe 3 S 4 during the HDS reactions. In contrast, the FeP/Al 2 O 3 was found to be stable and active for the HDS reactions. In particular, FeP/Al 2 O 3 possessed significantly smaller FeP particles than FeP/C, leading to the significant higher HDS activity of FeP/Al 2 O 3 than FeP/C.