synthesis and application of electrospun nickel-molybdenum/graphene composite nanofibers and nickel-molybdenum nanofibers supported on graphene nanosheets catalysts for hydrocracking of heavy hydrocarbons

Electrospun nimo/graphene composite nanofibers (nmgf) and nimo nanofibers supported on graphene nanosheets (nmfg) were prepared via the electrospinning technique. their performance for the hydrocracking of n-hexadecane (n-c16) was compared with the nimo/graphene (nmg) synthesized by the conventional impregnation method and commercial nimo/γ-al2o3 (nma) catalysts in a fixed-bed reactor. icp, bet, tem, fesem, xrd, and nh3-tpd tests were used to characterize the produced catalysts. the performance of the catalysts was evaluated based on total conversion and the distribution of liquid products over a continuous reaction period of 120 hours. the uniform dispersion of fibers, high surface area, large pore volume, and stronger acidic sites of nmgf and nmfg catalysts resulted in high percentage conversions of 99.5 and 99.2, respectively. the lighter hydrocarbons were achieved in hydrocracking using nanofibrous catalysts. furthermore, nanofibrous catalysts produced a more stable catalyst than their counterparts, which suffered from coke production and deactivation of roughly 6% over 120 hours. the obtained results revealed the high potential of fibrous catalysts synthesized via the electrospinning method compared with conventional metal oxide nanoparticles-supported catalysts for hydrocracking heavy oils.