Effects of pore diameter of carbon nanotubes and SBA-15 supports on hydrotreating of heavy gas oil from Athabasca bitumen over Ni-Mo catalysts

近年来，政府法规要求生产和使用硫磺和芳烃含量较低的更环保的燃料。石油工业正面临着巨大的挑战，因为更严格的环境法规，以及对重质原油砂衍生沥青的依赖日益增加。加拿大辛克鲁德有限公司目前每天从油砂中生产25万桶合成原油。重柴油是合成原油的主要成分，与常规轻质原油相比，重柴油含有更多的硫(~4wt%)和氮(~0.4wt.%)，需要脱除这些硫和氮，以满足下游炼油工艺的要求，如催化裂化(FCC)和加氢裂化生产最终用途的汽油和柴油。因此，脱除石油中的硫和氮，通过减少催化剂失活和生产对环境影响较小的更清洁的运输燃料，提高了下游炼油厂的运营和经济。目前，以7-Al_2O_3为载体的NiMo硫化物催化剂加氢脱除重质柴油中的硫和氮污染物。用上述加氢精制催化剂脱除油砂油中的硫虽然相对容易，但脱氮却比较困难。众所周知，Ni-Mo加氢精制催化剂的催化性能在一定程度上取决于所使用的载体，因为载体的表面性质会随着载体的变化而变化。本研究旨在开发以宽孔SBA-15和碳纳米管为载体的高活性Ni-Mo硫化物催化剂，用于阿萨巴斯卡沥青基重质柴油的加氢脱氮。以介孔SBA-15和碳纳米管为载体的镍钼加氢处理催化剂将促进重质原油大分子中N原子和S原子的脱除。这将帮助参与的行业加拿大辛克鲁德有限公司提高汽油质量，满足下游精炼工艺的要求。这项研究还使加拿大受益于其丰富的油砂资源的有效利用。

In recent years, government regulations require for the production and use of more environmentally friendly fuels with lower contents of sulfur and aromatics. Petroleum industries are facing tremendous challenges due to more stringent environmental regulations coupled with increasing reliance on heavy crude oil sands derived bitumen. Syncrude Canada Ltd. currently produces 250,000 bbl/day of synthetic crude oil from the oil sand. The heavy gas oil, which is a major component of this synthetic crude oil contains higher amounts of sulfur (~ 4 wt%) and nitrogen (~0.4 wt.%), compared to conventional light crude, which need to be removed to meet specifications of downstream refining processes, such as fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) and hydrocracking producing gasoline and diesel for end use. Removal of sulfur and nitrogen from the oil, therefore, enhances the operations and economics of downstream refineries by reducing catalyst deactivation as well as producing cleaner transportation fuel having less environment impact. Currently, the sulfur and nitrogen contaminants are being removed from the heavy gas oil by hydrotreating in the presence of 7-A12O3 supported NiMo sulfide catalyst. Although the removal of sulfur is relatively easy, it is difficult to remove nitrogen from oil sands derived oils with above hydrotreating catalyst. It is well known that the catalytic performance of Ni-Mo hydrotreating catalyst depends on the support used to a certain extent, since the surface properties vary with the changes of the support. The present research proposal aims at the development of highly active Ni-Mo sulfide catalysts supported on wide pore SB A-15 and CNTs for hydrodenitrogenation (HDN) of Athabasca bitumen derived heavy gas oil (HGO).The use of mesoporous SBA-15 and CNTs as support for NiMo hydrotreating catalyst will facilitate the removal of N and S atoms from the bulky molecules of heavy crude oil. This will help the participating industry, Syncrude Canada Ltd. to improve the quality of gas oil, which will meet specifications of downstream refining processes. This research also benefits Canada by efficient utilization of its vast oil sand resources.