Special Issue "Advances in Hydrotreating Catalyst Synthesis for Fuel and Chemical Production Processes"

Dear Colleagues,

We would like to invite original research or review articles to a Special Issue of ChemEngineering entitled “Advances in Hydrotreating Catalyst Synthesis for Fuel and Chemical Production Processes”. Catalytic hydrotreatment is an essential refining step in producing fuels and chemicals in petroleum-based refineries. It also plays a crucial role in the development of biomass-based refineries, as hydrotreatment reactions are commonly utilized to limit the presence of nitrogen, sulfur, oxygen, aromatics, and olefins. The efficiency and acceptability of any fuel produced from either fossil or renewable sources depends on the level of heteroatoms contaminants within it. The hydrotreating reaction can convert bulk fuels to high-calorie and environmentally acceptable ones. Therefore, the cost of the hydrotreating reaction makes a difference when considering the overall process. Industrialists and refiners need better, cost-efficient catalysts with the highest possible activity to obtain the desired boost in performance and minimize the operating cost.

Traditionally, supported metal catalysts, either alumina or silica-based catalysts, are used for the hydrotreating and hydrocracking processes. However, these suffer from severe catalyst deactivation due to coke formation and metal deposition in the pores. Dispersed metal catalysts, mainly metal sulfides, show promising results compared to supported metal catalysts due to their small-sized nanoparticles. These catalysts have high active site exposure tolerance and low diffusion resistance to large-molecule hydrocarbons. These characteristics help limit coke formation and promote high conversion rates. However, these catalysts’ performance is greatly dependent on the structure of their precursors, and they are also costly. Therefore, designing low-cost precursors with suitable structures is desirable for effective hydrotreating and hydrocracking industrial applications.

This Special Issue aims to encourage researchers to address recent progress in hydrotreating catalysts’ (supported and unsupported) formulation, characterizations, and reaction pathways for the fuel and chemical production processes. The submissions of studies on advanced synthesis methods and characterization techniques is highly encouraged.

Dr. Kirtika Kohli
Dr. Ravindra Prajapati
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• catalytic hydrotreatment
• heterogeneous catalysis
• catalytic hydrocracking
• catalyst deactivation
• catalyst characterization
• dispersed catalysts
• renewable fuels
• renewable chemicals