Directly Producing Clean and Low Softening Point Diesel Using Integrated Hydrotreating and Hydroisomerizing Catalysts

• Published in: Energy & fuels Vol. 24; no. 7; pp. 3772 - 3777
• Main Authors: Zhang, Xuejun, Guo, Aijun, Wang, Fucun, Duan, Xue
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Chemical Society 15.07.2010
• ISSN: 0887-0624; 1520-5029
• DOI: 10.1021/ef901373w

A novel hydrotreating (HT) catalyst of Mo−W−Ni−P supported on γ-Al2O3 modified by a Group IVA element and a hydroisomerizing (HI) catalyst of W−Ni supported on modified zeolite β with mesopores were prepared by the impregnation method. An integrated process using HT and HI catalysts was designed, and its advantages were well-investigated for directly producing clean diesel from various feedstocks. An industrial application shows that the integrated catalysts have flexible operating modes and are suitable for a wide range of feedstocks. For the HT operating mode, the integrated catalysts showed better hydrodesulfurization (HDS) performance for upgrading the poor quality diesel with a sulfur content of 1000 ppmw and a nitrogen content of 1131 ppmw. The sulfur content of diesel product is less than 40 ppmw, coupled with a hydrodenitrogenation (HDN) rate of 85.76% and an HDS rate of 96.3%. The cetane index increases by 7 units, and the diesel yield is more than 98.0 wt %. For the hydro-dewaxing operating mode, the integrated catalysts showed excellent catalytic performance for upgrading the feeds, with a sulfur content of 990 ppmw and a nitrogen content of 805 ppmw. The HDN rate of 99.42% and HDS rate of 99.99% were also achieved. More importantly, while retaining the cetane index, the diesel yield was as high as 88.72 wt % and the sulfur content and solidifying point of diesel were less than 10 ppmw and −29.3 °C, respectively. The higher HDS and HDN activities of the integrated catalysts are associated primarily with enhanced hydrogenation activity and increased acidity of the HI catalyst.