A novel porous ammonium nickel molybdate as the catalyst precursor towards deep hydrodesulfurization of gas oil

Porous ammonium nickel molybdate, a potential precursor for deep hydrodesulfurization catalyst with the formula of (NH4)HNi2(OH)2(MoO4)2, was synthesized by a high-temperature hydrothermal synthesis method. The unsupported NiMoS catalysts with various Ni/Mo ratios were prepared from the precursors. The precursors and catalysts were characterized by nitrogen physisorption, powder XRD, TG–DSC–MS, HRTEM, SEM and evaluated in the continuous HDS of FCC gas oil. The results indicated that the activities of thus-achieved catalysts were much higher than that of commercial NiMo/Al2O3. The catalysts derived from the crystalline ammonium nickel molybdate showed much higher catalytic activity than that obtained from amorphous precursor, which means they could be attractive material system for futural applications.