Aromatic hydrogenation of distillates over SiO2-Al2O3-supported noble metal catalysts Original Research Article

In order to develop a new sulfur-tolerant noble metal catalyst with significantly increased catalytic activity for aromatic hydrogenation, the screening tests of the various non-zeolitic noble metal catalysts were carried out with hydrotreated light cycle oil (LCO)/straight-run light gas oil (SRLGO) feed containing 32–34 vol% aromatics and 172–474 ppm sulfur at a temperature of 573 K, hydrogen pressure of 4.9 MPa, and LHSV of 1.5 h−1. The Pt–Pd/SiO2-Al2O3 catalyst was the most highly active catalyst for aromatic hydrogenation under the conditions applied. The co-existence of Pt with Pd on SiO2-Al2O3 remarkably enhanced the catalytic activity, which depended on the Pd/(Pt + Pd) weight ratio and reached a maximum of about 0.7 Pd/(Pt + Pd) weight ratio. Furthermore, the long-term stability test under industrial operating conditions demonstrated the excellent stability of the Pd–Pd/SiO2-Al2O3 catalyst.