PTQ Q4 2022 Issue

Positions

Catalyst name

Catalyst state

500

Pos. 1 Pos. 3 Pos. 5 Pos. 6 Pos. 8 Pos. 10

NiMo: Catalyst 1 NiCoMo: Catalyst 2 CoMo: Catalyst 3 NiMo: Catalyst 1 NiCoMo: Catalyst 2 CoMo: Catalyst 3

100% Fresh 100% Fresh 100% Fresh

400

100% Excel Rejuvenated 100% Excel Rejuvenated 100% Excel Rejuvenated

300

Table 1 Loading configurations of fresh and Excel rejuvenated catalysts

200

100

Analysis

Feed to CFH unit (90% VGO/10% HCGO)

Pos. 8 ID 4.80 mm Pos. 10

Pos. 5 ID 4.80 mm Pos. 6

Pos. 1 ID 4.80 mm Pos. 3

Density 15°C, kg/m³

930.5

ID 4.80 mm

Sulphur, wt%

2.0283 2132.94

Fresh catalyst 2 Fresh catalyst 3 Excel catalyst 1

SiC F100 Fresh catalyst 1 SiC F60

Excel catalyst 2 Excel catalyst 3 Isotherm zone start Isotherm zone end

Nitrogen, ppmwt

Bromine Number, gBr/100 g

11.8 51.2 26.2

Total aromatics, wt% Mono-aromatics, wt% Di-aromatics, wt% Tri-aromatics, wt% Tetra-aromatics, wt% Poly-aromatics, wt%

Figure 1 Loading configurations of fresh and Excel rejuvenated configurations

11.1 6.3 7.7

In addition, the test unit was equipped with individually heated reactors, allowing for the testing of different reactor temperatures at the same time. 5 The catalyst testing was performed at multiple temperatures with the same pres- sure, hydrogen-to-oil ratio, liquid hourly space velocity (LHSV), and hydrogen purity. The performance of Excel rejuvenated catalysts has been compared with their parent fresh catalysts by loading Excel rejuvenated catalysts as standalone, as per the loadings shown in Figure 1 and Table 1 . The catalyst volume employed was 2 mL per reactor. The catalysts were tested as full-bodied extrudates, which were sorted by length to select only extrudates with a length shorter than 4 mm. The inner diameter of the reactors was 4.8 mm. The feed, a blend of vacuum gas oil (VGO) (90 wt%) and heavy coker gas oil (HCGO) (10 wt%) from a European refinery , was used to perform catalyst testing (see Table 2 ). The experiments were conducted at a hydrogen partial pressure of 80-120 barg, LHSV = 1.00 h -1 and H 2 / Oil = 400 Nm 3 /m 3 using three different temperatures (see Table 3 ). After a dry-out step at 115°C for four hours, a common wetting and sulphiding procedure was carried out, where

25.1

Simulated distillation (SimDist) 10%, °C

369 565 614

95%, °C FBP, °C

Table 2 Feed to cat feed hydrotreating unit used to perform catalyst testing

dimethyl disulphide (DMDS) was added (2.5 wt%) to straight-run gas oil for the catalyst activation. The catalyst activation was followed by a line-out period and start-of-run (SOR) temperature conditions. The experi- ments were designed in such a way that sulphur effluents at different conditions ranged from 100 to 1000 ppmwt. The feed for this test was carefully chosen in order to test the catalysts at very high concentrations of nitrogen and aromatics. For this reason, the gas-to-oil ratio (GTO) was kept at a relatively high level to ensure that no more than 30% of the hydrogen introduced would be consumed. This precaution was taken as a mitigation measure to allevi- ate the concerns of catalyst deactivation resulting from a hydrogen-starved regime. Excel rejuvenation yielded an equivalent activity to its

Conditions

ppH₂ (barg)

LHSV (h -1 )

2 /Oil (Nm³/m³)

Temperature (°C)

80 80 80

360 370 375 360 370 375

4 5 7 8 9

1.00

400

120 120 120

Table 3 Operating conditions used to perform catalyst testing

PTQ Q4 2022