This book provides much information of interest to anyone working in the petroleum industry or studying catalyst preparation and characterization in industrial or university laboratories. It contains both review articles and papers reporting progress concerning hydrotreating catalysts which together provide an up-to-date picture of this interesting field. The use of modern spectroscopic techniques in catalyst characterization is described and new concepts such as microbial upgrading and the use of crystallography data in catalyst design are presented.

The present invention provides methods of synthesizing molybdenum disulfide (MoS.sub. 2) and carbon-containing molybdenum disulfide (MoS.sub. 2-xC.sub.x) catalysts that exhibit improved catalytic activity for hydrotreating reactions involving hydrodesulfurization, hydrodenitrogenation, and hydrogenation. The present invention also concerns the resulting catalysts. Furthermore, the invention concerns the promotion of these catalysts with Co, Ni, Fe, and/or Ru sulfides to create catalysts with greater activity, for hydrotreating reactions, than conventional catalysts such as cobalt molybdate on alumina support.

This thesis focuses on the study of promoted molybdenum catalysts supported on alumina or carbon nanotubes for the synthesis of olefins from synthesis gas obtained from biomass. The catalysts were studied at every stage of their preparation by different characterization techniques and tested in fixed bed reactor. The results showed that both types of sites are present on the K-MoS2 catalysts: MoS2, which leads to the production of methane and a mixed K-Mo-S phase which leads to the synthesis of olefins. The decrease in activity observed with catalysts supported on carbon nanotubes was attributed to the low rate of sulphidation. The basicity of the promoters and the size of the molybdenum sulphide crystallites are important parameters influencing the olefins synthesis. A moderate basicity as well as large size of molybdenum crystallites are favorable to the synthesis of light olefins.