Heterogeneously catalyzed hydrodesulfurization

Desulfurization is obtained by heterogeneously catalyzed hydrodesulfurization (HDS), whereby the organic sulfur species (Figure 5.1.22) are converted into H2S and the corresponding hydrocarbons ... 

Research into cluster catalysis has been driven by both intrinsic interest and utilitarian potential. Catalysis involving "very mixed -metal clusters is of particular interest as many established heterogeneously catalyzed processes couple mid and late transition metals (e.g., hydrodesulfurization and petroleum reforming). Attempts to model catalytic transformations arc summarized in Section II.F.I., while the use of "very mixed -metal clusters as homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis precursors are discussed in Sections I1.F.2. and I1.F.3., respectively. The general area of mixed-metal cluster catalysis has been summarized in excellent reviews by Braunstein and Rose while the tabulated results are intended to be comprehensive in scope, the discussion below focuses on the more recent results. 

In fine-chemicals production three-phase reaction systems are common for the hydrogenation and hydrogenolysis of different organic functional groups. Other reactions, such as heterogeneously catalyzed catalytic oxidations, hydrodesulfurizations, and reductive aminations are encountered less frequently. 

We focus on heterogeneous catalysis with single and multiple reactant phases, as these are the most common in practice. Examples include environmental catalysis, fat hardening, hydrodesulfurization of oil streams, hydrogenation of fine chemicals, and selective conversions catalyzed by immobilized enzymes or cells in biotechnology. The most popular reactors used in industry for multiphase applications are slurry bubble columns and trickle-bed reactors. They are shovm in Figure 1. 

The removal of sulfur from petroleum is commonly achieved by hydrogenation on heterogeneous catalysts (in a hydrodesulfurization, or HDS, process) but a few homogeneously catalyzed reactions are also known [61,62]. Eor biphasic processes, see Section 2.4.2.2. 

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