Development of hydrotreating catalysts for the removal of S and N from heavy crude oils

随着常规原油的枯竭和全球能源需求和消费的增加，非常规石油资源（沥青、油砂、页岩油等）的利用率稳步上升。加拿大投入了大量精力开发非常规石油资源，将其作为国家能源的未来。据估计，加拿大可开采的石油达1740亿桶，其中95%的石油含有油砂，而油砂在开采和提取后会产生重质原油。与传统原油不同，重质原油含有高浓度的杂质（如硫、氮、重金属），需要消耗大量能量的精炼过程。传统的加氢处理工艺效率低下，无法去除杂质以满足燃料等级要求。位于安大略省萨尼亚的帝国石油研究与发展中心与多伦多大学合作开发了先进的催化加氢处理技术，用于连续深度加氢脱硫（HDS）和加氢脱氮（HDN）反应。该项目将结合先进的动力学、理论和催化剂表征方法，其中一些方法最近在加拿大新成立的安大略省先进材料表征中心（OCCAM）可用，OCCAM是申请人所在部门的前沿显微和光谱设施，并通过与加拿大光源合作，揭示催化剂结构和性质之间的相关性。这项工作将为加氢处理过程的反应路径调整和反应器操作策略提供基础，并将推动帝国石油公司开发下一代深度加氢处理催化剂，专门用于处理加拿大重质原油，从而使深度加氢处理过程在经济上可行。参与研究项目的学生将获得反应工程、催化操作策略、多相催化的基本知识和工业石化反应器工艺的第一手培训。他们将把这些知识转移回位于萨尼亚的帝国石油研究与发展中心。

The utilization of unconventional petroleum sources (bitumen, oil sands, shale oil, etc.) has increased steadily as conventional crudes deplete and the global energy demand and consumption increase. Canada has invested significant effort to exploit unconventional petroleum sources as the energy future of the nation. It is estimated that >174 billion barrels of oil in Canada are recoverable, and 95 % of these oils are contained in the oil sands, which upon mining and extraction produce heavy crudes. The heavy crudes, unlike conventional crudes, contain high concentrations of impurities (e.g. sulfur, nitrogen, heavy metals) and require refining processes that are energetically intensive. Conventional hydrotreament processes are inefficient and unable to remove the impurities in order to meet the fuel grade requirements. Imperial Oil Research and Development Centre, based in Sarnia, Ontario, partners with University of Toronto to develop advanced catalytic hydrotreatment technology for tandem deep hydrodesulfurization (HDS) and hydrodenitrogenation (HDN) reactions. The project will combine advanced kinetic, theoretical, and catalyst characterization methods, some of which have recently become available in Canada in the newly established Ontario Centre for Characterization of Advanced Materials (OCCAM), a leading edge microscopic and spectroscopic facility at the home department of the applicants, and through collaboration with Canadian Light Source, to unravel the correlation between catalyst structures and properties. This work will provide the foundation for reaction pathway tuning and reactor operation strategies for hydrotreating processes and will advance the efforts of Imperial Oil in developing next generation deep hydrotreating catalysts, specifically formulated for processing the heavy crudes from Canada, thus making the deep hydrotreating processes economically feasible. Students trained in the research projects will acquire first hand trainings on reaction engineering, catalytic operation strategies, essential fundamental knowledge in heterogeneous catalysis, and industrial petrochemical reactor processes. They will transfer the knowledge back to Imperial Oil Research and Development Centre in Sarnia.