Hydrotreating process variables

Typical ranges of process variables in distillate hydrotreating operations are ... 

This chapter deals with catalytic hydrotreating (HDT), which is one of the most important processes in petroleum refining industry, not only for upgrading of heavy oils but also for producing low-impurity content fuels and preparing feeds for various conversion processes. Its importance in refineries and current worldwide situation, as well as the main process aspects (description, type of reactors, fundamentals, and process variables) are discussed. 

Chapter 7 serves as an introduction for the main issues that need to be considered for modeling hydroprocessing reactors. It provides a comprehensive review of the most important features of the various reactors used for upgrading of heavy feeds, such as characteristics and classification, process variables, and fundamentals. Reactor modeling is exemplified with the hydrotreating of a heavy oil-derived gas oil. 

The primary variables influencing hydrotreating are hydrogen partial pressure, process temperature, and contact time. Higher hydrogen pressure gives a better removal of undesirable... 

The INT-RI catalyst can be used in fixed bed hydrotreating units to improve the residue quality, from a high sulfur residual to a low sulfur fuel oil [6]. Tests were performed to demonstrate the technical feasibility of directly processing these residues, using atmospheric residue of Cerro Negro and Iranian Gach Saran crude oils as feedstocks. These residues are characterized by a higher content of asphaltenes and Conradson Carbon than the deasphalted oils [5,6]. Therefore, the effect of these two variables on the performance of the catalyst, can be evaluated. 

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