In the present work, a series of NiMo catalysts supported on
titania nanotubes with different contents of residual sodium were
studied. The catalytic results showed a clear dependence between
the overall catalytic activity and selectivity of the NiMo/TNT(x) catalysts
and the support’s sodium content. The maximum activity in
HDS of DBT was reached with the catalyst supported on nanotubular
material with the lowest Na content (0.1 wt.%). Thereafter, the
activity decreased with an increase in the sodium content of the
support. Regarding selectivity trends, NiMo catalysts supported
on nanotubular materials with high sodium content showed high
selectivity for the direct desulfurization route of DBT hydrodesulfurization
(Table 4), whereas the NiMo catalysts supported on
TNT(x) materials with low sodium content were found to be highly
active in both the HYD and DDS routes. These observations are