Transformation of sulfur compounds in two typical atmospheric residues in hydrotreating via ESI FT-ICR MS

• Published in: Fuel (Guildford) Vol. 281; p. 118731
• Main Authors: Zhang, Cheng, Zhang, Ying, Liu, Mei, Guan, Yue-Ming, Yuan, Sheng-Hua
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.12.2020; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Aromatic compounds; Atmospheric residue; Catalytic cracking; Chemical composition; Cyclotron resonance; Evolution; Fourier analysis; Fourier transforms; Hydrotreating; Ionization; Ions; Residues; Sulfur; Sulfur compounds; Sulfur content; Transformation; Sulfur compounds; Transformation; Atmospheric residue; Hydrotreating
• ISSN: 0016-2361; 1873-7153
• DOI: 10.1016/j.fuel.2020.118731

•The sulfur compounds in ARs and HDT products were examined by (+) ESI FT-ICR MS.•The evolutions of the sulfur families in two typical ARs were quite similar.•The number of aromatic rings influenced the removal difficulty of sulfur compounds. The atmospheric residue (AR) hydrotreating (HDT) process attracts more and more attention because it provides quality feedstock for downstream catalytic cracking. The compositional analysis of feeds and products is a key step to improve our understanding of HDT process. In this study, two ARs representing a low (LSAR) and a high sulfur content (HSAR) were hydrotreated in a fixed-bed flow reactor. With increased process severity, we employed electrospray ionization (ESI) Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometer (FT-ICR MS) to monitor the evolution of the sulfur families in HDT. The results suggest that although the properties and molecular composition of sulfur classes in ARs vary, the evolution of the sulfur compounds is quite similar. Further analysis indicated that the removal difficulty of S1 and S2 species was positively correlated with the number of aromatic rings.