Here in this work, density functional theory (DFT), catalytic activity tests, and in-situ X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) was performed to gain detailed insights into the activity and stability of MoS<
sub>
2<
/sub>
, Ni-MoS<
sub>
2<
/sub>
, and Co-MoS<
sub>
2<
/sub>
catalysts used for hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of ethylene glycol upon variation of the partial pressures of H<
sub>
2<
/sub>
O and H<
sub>
2<
/sub>
S. The results show high water tolerance of the catalysts and highlight the importance of promotion and H<
sub>
2<
/sub>
S level during HDO. DFT calculations unraveled that the active edge of MoS<
sub>
2<
/sub>
could be stabilized against SO exchanges by increasing the partial pressure of H<
sub>
2<
/sub>
S or by promotion with either Ni or Co. The Mo, NiMo, and CoMo catalysts of the present study were all active and fairly selective for ethylene glycol HDO at 400 �C, 27 bar H<
sub>
2<
/sub>
, and 550?2200 ppm H<
sub>
2<
/sub>
S, and conversions of ?50?100%. The unpromoted Mo/MgAl<
sub>
2<
/sub>
O<
sub>
4<
/sub>
catalyst had a lower stability and activity per gram catalyst than the promoted analogues. The NiMo and CoMo catalysts produced ethane, ethylene, and C1 cracking products with a C<
sub>
2<
/sub>
/C<
sub>
1<
/sub>
ratio of 1.5?2.0 at 550 ppm H<
sub>
2<
/sub>
S. This ratio of HDO to cracking could be increased to ?2 at 2200 ppm H<
sub>
2<
/sub>
S which also stabilized the activity. Removing H<
sub>
2<
/sub>
S from the feed caused severe catalyst deactivation. Both DFT and catalytic activity tests indicated that increasing the H<
sub>
2<
/sub>
S concentration increased the concentration of SH groups on the catalyst, which correspondingly activated and stabilized the catalytic HDO performance. In-situ XAS further supported that the catalysts were tolerant towards water when exposed to increasing water concentration with H2O/H2S ratios up to 300 at 400?450 �C. Raman spectroscopy and XAS showed that MoS2 was present in the prepared catalysts as small and highly dispersed particles, probably owing to a strong interaction with the support. Linear combination fitting (LCF) analysis of the X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) spectra obtained during in-situ sulfidation showed that Ni was sulfided faster than Mo and CoMo, and that Mo was sulfided faster when promoted with Ni. Extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) results showed the presence of MoS<
sub>
2<
/sub>
in all sulfided catalysts. Lastly, sulfided CoMo was present as a mixture of CoMoS and Co<
sub>
9<
/sub>
S<
sub>
8<
/sub>
, whereas sulfided NiMo was present as NiMoS.