M.K.Prabhu^a, I.M.N.Groot^a
a Gorlaeus Laboratory, Leiden University, Einsteinweg 55, 2333CA, Leiden

Hydroprocessing plays a key role in reducing global SOx and NOx emissions in order to abate the global warming and the associated climate change. Understanding and improving the widely used Co-promoted MoS₂ catalysts for hydrodesulfurization (HDS) is an important step in this direction. In this presentation, operando structural characterization of Co-promoted MoS₂ nanoparticles at semi-industrial reaction conditions will be presented. ReactorSTM[1] has been used to obtain atom-resolved images of Co-promoted MoS₂ and closely associated phases such as CoS₂ under a gas mixture of hydrogen and methanethiol at 1 bar and 510 K. Ex-situ XPS characterization has been performed to investigate the chemical changes occurring on the catalyst surface. Additionally, atomic models to explain the STM images have been proposed. Furthermore, the results have been compared with the phase diagram for the structure of the CoMoS catalyst recently proposed in the literature[2]. The results of this study provide valuable insights into the high activity of the Co promoted MoS₂ nanoparticles.

References

1. Review of Scientific Instruments 85, 083703 (2014); doi: 10.1063/1.4891811
2. Nature Communications (2018), 9:2211, doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04615-9