Catalytic upgrading of heavy oil using NiCo/γ-Al2O3 catalyst: Effect of initial atmosphere and water-gas shift reaction

• Published in: Fuel (Guildford) Vol. 235; pp. 736 - 743
• Main Authors: Avbenake, Onoriode P., Al-Hajri, Rashid S., Jibril, Baba Y.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.01.2019; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Aluminum oxide; Atmosphere; Catalysis; Catalysts; Catalytic cracking; Coke; Crude oil; Gas media; Gravity; Heavy oil upgrading; Heavy petroleum; Hydrocracking; Hydrogen; Hydrogen storage; Low temperature; NiCo/γ-Al2O3 catalysts; Nitrogen; Shift reaction; Sulfur; Transitional aluminas; Upgrading; Viscosity; Water-gas shift reaction; Heavy oil upgrading; Hydrocracking; NiCo/γ-Al2O3 catalysts; Gas media; Water-gas shift reaction
• DOI: 10.1016/j.fuel.2018.08.074
• ISSN: 0016-2361

[Display omitted] •The reactor gaseous media affects the upgrading process.•Water-gas shift reaction plays a significant role in the upgrading.•The choice of by-product may influence the selection of gaseous media.•Hydrogen media was shown to promote gases, while Nitrogen encourages coke. Ni-Co/γ-alumina catalyst was prepared and tested in upgrading of heavy crude oil. The parameter studied was the type of the pressurising gas and especially its effect on the water-gas shift reaction on the upgrading. The preliminary results suggested that a combination of the cracking reaction and the original water-in-oil which triggered a low temperature water-gas shift reaction generated hydrogen in-situ for the hydrogenation reaction. To further explore this, four major experimental runs were conducted; amongst which two were without catalysts and reactor inner liner in hydrogen and nitrogen environments, two were catalytically driven with and without a liner. The experimental conditions were 380 °C, 32 bar and residence time of 2 h with a catalyst/oil ratio of 0.01. The results show that API gravity, Hydrogen/Carbon ratio and light oil yields were slightly higher for the reaction in nitrogen atmosphere without liner as compared to hydrogen with liner– 15.8°, 0.138, and 40.2 g respectively for the latter with 18.2°, 0.177, and 45 g for the former. The catalytic reaction in hydrogen environment however; produced no coke as against the 0.2 wt% coke recorded with nitrogen. Meanwhile, the reduction in sulphur content and viscosity of the nitrogen experiment were higher compared to that of hydrogen.