David N. Nakamura
Refining/Petrochemical Editor
NEW ORLEANS, Apr. 8 -- Oxford Catalysts will announce, in a presentation Apr. 9 at the American Chemical Society Meeting, New Orleans, that a new approach to catalyst preparation could provide major improvements in the performance of hydrodesulfurization (HDS) catalysts.
According to Tiancun Xiao, cofounder of Oxford Catalysts, experiments suggest that the preparation method, rather than the type or combination of metals, has the greatest influence on HDS catalyst performance.
Oxford Catalysts' experiments reveal that monometallic, bimetallic, and trimetallic HDS catalysts prepared using organic matrix combustion perform better than HDS catalysts of similar compositions prepared using impregnation methods.
"This result was a surprise," said Sergio Gonzalez-Cortes, research scientist for Oxford Catalysts. "We don't yet understand why this happens, but we think that it may be due to the strong interaction between cobalt and nickel."
Contact David N. Nakamura at [email protected].
