SAPO-containing alumina CoMoNi-catalysts for hydrotreatment of heavy oil: Pore hierarchy as a key parameter for catalyst stabilization

This paper is devoted to the study of activity and lifetime of CoMoNi-catalyst containing one-dimensional SAPOs in heavy oil hydrotreatment. A special attention is paid to porous structure of SAPOs and catalyst supports. Porosity of supports is designed by two hard templates. Pore structure containing narrow and wide mesopores and macropores is referred as high-resolved pore hierarchy. In turn, pore structure containing narrow mesopores and macropores is referred as bimodal pore hierarchy. Zeolite-like SAPOs also differ in their own pore hierarchy and acidity. Catalysts have been characterized with XRD, nitrogen adsorption-desorption, Hg-intrusion, Raman and XP spectroscopies and SEM. Catalytic tests for 100 h for each catalysts have been shown that support pore hierarchy should be designed depending on pore hierarchy and morphology of zeolite-like material. In general, high-resolved pore hierarchy improves mass transfer, makes CoMoNi sites accessible and creates gradual pore channel expansion and, as a result, prevents deactivation of zeolite-like containing catalysts.