(58l) Rapid Catalyst Deactivation and Lifetime Determination

Hydrotreating process is the key to refining industry to meet fuel specifications and environmental regulations. Activity and stability of hydrotreating catalyst is extremely important in hydrotreating, as it determines how long the reactor can be operated before the catalyst needs to be replaced. However, the current methods for evaluating hydrotreating catalyst are very time consuming, not cost-effective, and usually performed under noncommercial process conditions. This paper reported a novel method for rapid and efficient way to estimate hydrotreating catalyst lifetime to capitalize on industry’s need.

A four-place catalyst tester was used to test the activity of commercial hydrotreating catalyst in a short time by accelerated deactivation of the catalyst using spiking agents. Accelerated hydrotreating catalyst deactivation was achieved using spiking agents of DBT and carbazole in n-dodecane, ultralow sulfur diesel and off-road diesel: the catalyst deactivation for HDN activity was 16.2% after 40-hour run. A novel methodology for catalyst lifetime determination was obtained and illustrated as the following sequences.