In past years, the amount of sulfur content allowed in transportation fuels has been a topic of controversy. In 1993 the upper limit of sulfur in fuels was as high as 5,000 ppm however, 2006 legislation reduced the allowable limit of sulfur to 15 ppm. The effects of modifying the synthesis of HDS catalysts were investigated in the present study. A model reaction using dibenzothiophene as sulfur molecule in crude oils was investigated.   Sulfur removal from Dibenzothiophene (DBT) was conducted in decalin. The HDS reaction was performed with different ratios of Ni:Mo of 0.25:1.0 and 0.5:1.0 in the catalyst.  In addition, the catalysts were synthesized using two different sulfur ratios of 1:4 and 1:6 (Mo:S) to further understand the reaction. The model reaction was performed at a temperature of 350˚C under an initial H<sub>2 </sub>pressure of 160 PSI.  Aliquots of the reaction mixture were collected every 30 minutes and analyzed using GC-MS over a 5 hour time period.   Reaction, was found to follow zero order kinetics or pseudo zero order kinetics with varying rate constants.  The Catalysts synthesized using the higher ratio of sulfur forced the reaction to go further towards completion, maximizing at approximately 80% removal of DBT.  In addition, the higher ratio of sulfur also showed a higher amount of hydrogenation products cyclohexylbenzene in the reactions.  Furthermore, all catalysts were analyzed using a combination of SEM/EDS, RAMAN spectroscopy, and XRD.

Hydrodesulphurization of the DBT using low ratio nickel-molybdenum sulfide catalysts

249th National Meeting (2015)

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