Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Catalysis Letters https://doi.org/10.1007/s10562-019-02851-2 Efect of Cu‑Promotion on the Performance of Molybdenum Sulfde for Hydrotreating of FCC Gasoline Paulino Betancourt 1  · Susana Pinto‑Castilla 2 Received: 20 October 2018 / Accepted: 30 May 2019 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2019 Abstract Copper sulfde (either supported or unsupported) has received poor attention as promoter since this chalcogenide displayed modest hydrotreatment activity. In this sense, was evaluated the potential of sulfde CuMo catalyst in the FCC gasoline hydrotreatment. A MoS 2 bulk and the industrial NiMo/Al 2 O 3 catalyst were used as reference. According to the results obtained, the NiMo commercial catalyst had higher HDS, HDN, and HYD activity, but with a signifcant decrease in the octane number (RON). While the CuMo catalysts showed a lower response towards hydrotreatment, maintaining its octane value. According to the results obtained in the characterizations carried out (XRD, XPS, TPR, physisorption of N 2 , among others), we propose that copper species could be generating geometric and/or electronic changes in the CuMoS phases, increasing the number of active sites. Additionally, the incorporation of the Cu in the crystalline structure could be modify- ing its electronic structure, granting a metallic character to the active phase. The work demonstrates the potential of CuMo catalyst for HDT of FCC gasoline. Graphical Abstract Keywords Copper-molybdenum catalysts · Hydrotreating · FCC gasoline 1 Introduction Hydrotreating catalysts are used in numerous refnery pro- cesses to remove mainly sulfur, and nitrogen contaminants present in petroleum. The development of highly active hydrotreating catalysts has been one of the major interests in the petroleum industry in order to comply with increas- ingly stringent environmental regulations. To decrease these environmental problems, the nitrogen and sulfur content in the fuel has been, and will continue to be, reduced to ever lower levels. This is combined with the rapid increase of demand for transportation fuels, which requires refneries to produce clean fuels from available sources. In a typical * Susana Pinto-Castilla cspc99@gmail.com Paulino Betancourt paulino.betancourt@gmail.com 1 Facultad de Ciencias, Centro de Catálisis, Petróleo y Petroquímica, Escuela de Química, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Los Chaguaramos, Caracas 40679, AP, Venezuela 2 Laboratorio de Fisicoquímica de Superfcies, Centro de Química, IVIC, Altos de Pipe, km 11, Carretera Panamericana, Caracas, Venezuela