“…Previously, we studied the HDS of DBT and its hydrogenated intermediates, 1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-dibenzothiophene (TH-DBT) and 1,2,3,4,4a,9b-hexahydrodibenzothiophene (HH-DBT), over bulk Ni 2 P and MoP catalysts [10,11] and the HDS of 4,6-dimethyldibenzothiophene (4,6-DMDBT), 1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-4,6-dimethyldibenzothiophene (TH-4,6-DMDBT), and 1,2,3,4,4a,9b-hexahydro-4,6-dimethyldibenzothiophene (HH-4,6-DMDBT) over bulk Ni 2 P [12]. Over Ni 2 P, DBT mainly desulfurized by the DDS pathway, while desulfurization of 4,6-DMDBT occurred predominantly through the HYD pathway, and 4,6-DMDBT reacted much more slowly than DBT [10,12]. In addition to these results, which are in line with results obtained with sulfided Co-Mo and Ni-Mo catalysts [9,13], TH-4,6-DMDBT readily dehydrogenated to dimethyldibenzothiophene [12], whereas TH-DBT did not dehydrogenate to DBT under identical reaction conditions [10].…”