Hydrodesulfurization of Iraqi Atmospheric Gasoil by Ti-Ni-Mo/γ-Al2O3 Prepared Catalyst

Abstract

This study investigates the improvement of Iraqi atmospheric gas oil characteristics which contains 1.402 wt. % sulfur content and 16.88 wt. % aromatic content supplied from Al-Dura Refinery by using hydrodesulfurization (HDS) process using Ti-Ni-Mo/γ-Al2O3 prepared catalyst in order to achieve low sulfur and aromatic saturation gas oil. Hydrodearomatization (HDA) occurs simultaneously with hydrodesulfurization (HDS) process. The effect of titanium on the conventional catalyst Ni-Mo/γ-Al2O3 was investigated by physical adsorption and catalytic activity test.Ti-Ni-Mo/γ-Al2O3 catalyst was prepared under vacuum impregnation condition to ensure efficient precipitation of metals within the carrier γ-Al2O3. The loading percentage of metals as oxide; titanium oxide 3 wt. %, nickel oxide 5 wt. % and molybdenum oxide 12 wt. %. The performance of the synthesized catalyst for removing sulfur and aromatic saturation were tested at various temperatures 275 to 350°C, LHSV 1 to 4h-1, constant pressure 40 bar and H2/HC ratio 500 ml/ml.Results showed that the sulfur and aromatic content were reduced at all operating conditions. Maximum sulfur removal was 75.52 wt. % in gas oil on Ti-Ni-Mo/γ-Al2O3 at temperature 350˚C, LHSV 1h-1, while minimum aromatic content achieved was 15.6 wt. % at the same conditions.