Hydrotreating activity of heavy gasoil over NiMo/γ-Al₂O₃-TiO₂

Different γ-Al₂O₃-TiO₂ catalysts were tested in a pilot plant fixed-bed reactor in order to evaluate the effect of atomic ratio (Ni/Ni+Mo) on hydrotreating activity of heavy gasoil FCC feed. Hydrotreating reactions were carried out at three temperatures (330, 365, and 400°C) and LHSV of 6 h^-1. Studies of atomic ratio were done varying Ni amounts (2, 2.4, and 2.95 wt%) whereas molybdenum loading was kept constant (6 wt%) for all catalyst, the behavior of these catalysts was compared with a reference catalyst containing 11.5 wt% of Mo and 2.95 wt% of Ni, which was evaluated at the same conditions. All catalysts were prepared by incipient impregnation method over γ-Al₂O₃-TiO₂ (Ti = 5.6 wt%). Experimental results showed correlation between the atomic ratio (Ni/Ni + Mo) and the best results for hydrodemetallization where found for the catalyst with atomic ratio of (Ni/Ni + Mo) = 0.45.