Abstract
To minimize air pollution resulting from exhaust gas emission, a decrease in the concentrations of the sulfur compounds in fuels has become a major issue in the last 10 years. The development of catalysts for the hydrodesulfurization process is a challenge for the oil industry. In the present work, a new and easy way to synthesize Ni-Mo-S hydrotreatment catalysts and in particular the effect of ionic liquids on the final structure was studied. It was shown that the addition of the ionic liquid [BMIM][NTf2] to the main reactants [Ni(NO3)2*6H2O and (NH4)2MoS4] had a great impact on the final product morphology. Indeed, formation of nanoparticles instead of gel was observed, and the amount of ionic liquid introduced helped to control the shape and size of the particles. Moreover, it was also highlighted that the presence of an ionic liquid favored the promotion of MoS2 with Ni with an optimal Ni/(Ni+Mo) atomic ratio of 0.3, and it also impacted the nanostructure, leading to thinner and shorter MoS2 slabs, which are two attractive points for catalytic applications.