Crude oil from oil sands is less expensive than Arabian crude but has a higher level of sulfur impurities that impact human health and the environment, necessitating improved hydrodesulfurization (HDS) catalysts. Silica-supported Ni2P is demonstrated to be a superior HDS catalyst relative to commercially-employed sulfided molybdenum, both in terms of efficiency and resistance to poisoning. However, no systematic study has been done on particle size effects on HDS activity of Ni2P, largely because traditional incipient wetness techniques do not enable sufficient size control. In this presentation, the ability to tune the particle size of Ni2P on a length-scale critical to catalytic activity is presented. The sintering of Ni2P nanoparticles on traditional supports is overcome by incorporation of Ni2P nanoparticles within mesoporous silica. Preliminary dibenzothiophene HDS data conducted on nanoparticles of varying size will be described in the context of establishing the relationship between site density and HDS activity of Ni2P.

Size control of Ni<sub>2</sub>P nanoparticles: Consequences for hydrodesulfurization activity

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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Size control of Ni2P nanoparticles: Consequences for hydrodesulfurization activity

Size control of Ni₂P nanoparticles: Consequences for hydrodesulfurization activity