Nano Ni-W catalysts with different tungsten contents prepared by mixing alkaline nickel carbonate with ammonium tungstate show high activity and good sulfur tolerance for hydrogenation of thiophene-containing ethylbenzene. The catalysts were characterized by XRD, TPR, SEM, Raman and BET. The results show that the activity of the catalysts for ethylbenzene hydrogenation is affected profoundly by W loading and the best result was obtained on catalyst with W/Ni ratio equal to 0.16. The increase of activity of the catalyst can be attributed to the interaction between Ni and W doped and the increase of the surface area of the catalyst.

The hydrogenation activity and sulfur-tolerant ability of nano-NiMo catalysts prepared by sol-gel method were investigated by hydrogenation of ethylbenzene containing thiophene. The results show that the adding of molybdenum has a profound effect on the structure and the sulfur-tolerant ability of nickel-based catalyst. The catalyst with MoNi ratio of 0.16 showed maximum hydrogenation activity and good sulfur resistance when compared to other catalysts. It seems that new hydrogen-adsorbed phase is formed at high temperature and the quantity of hydrogen adsorbed increases greatly when Mo is added to the nickel-based catalysts.Ministry of Science and Technology of China [2004CB217805, 2010CB226903