Investigation of fouling and pressure drop profiles in packed-bed catalytic reactor during hydrotreating of bitumen-derived gas oils

炼油厂加氢精制催化反应器无缝运行的一个普遍问题是结垢和压降增长问题。这些限制了催化反应器运行的预定运行时间，在严重情况下需要提前关闭。在极低浓度(&lt；100ppm)的沥青衍生汽油中出现亚微米金属颗粒，可能会在延长的进料加工时间内积累，最终导致显著的压降，从而过早关闭。同样，共轭烯烃也会导致加氢处理反应器中的催化剂失活和结垢。为了深入了解与沥青油加氢处理相关的污垢和压降分布，并制定适当的缓解策略，需要对沥青油中存在的各种污垢的结垢机理进行系统的研究。在这项拟议的工作中，将与加拿大辛克鲁德有限公司合作，在工业条件下研究催化剂结垢和金属细粉和共轭烯烃等结垢引起的压降问题。将使用模拟工业加氢处理机和实际工业进料的填充床加氢处理反应器来研究结垢问题。考察了重油和轻油中的污物对加氢脱硫和加氢脱氮的影响。此外，还将通过改变加氢处理催化剂的表面酸度、催化剂颗粒形态和反应器操作条件来研究减少污垢在催化剂床和反应器体上沉积的策略。此外，还将研究催化剂酸度和工艺条件的交互影响以及污垢沉积的数学模型。该项目的拟议成果将为我们的工业合作伙伴提供解决方案，以减轻局部地区性污染，从而实现Mildred Lake升级机催化剂再生之间所需的运行周期，该升级机每天从沥青油中生产350,000桶低硫原油(SCO)。此外，这项研究还将使加拿大其他石油公司在公布项目成果的同时，提高上合组织生产的利润率。

A prevalent problem associated with the seamless operation of hydrotreating catalytic reactors in the refinery is the issues of fouling and pressure drop growth. These limit the scheduled run lengths of catalytic reactor operation and in severe cases warrant premature shutdowns. The occurrence of submicron metal particles in bitumen-derived gas oils at extremely low concentrations (<100 ppm), can accumulate over extended feed processing times and culminate in significant pressure drop and consequently premature shutdown. Similarly, conjugated olefins can also lead to catalyst deactivation, and fouling in hydrotreater reactors. To gain insight into fouling and the pressure drop profiles associated with hydrotreating of bitumen-derived oils, and to develop appropriate mitigation strategies, a systematic investigation on the fouling mechanism of various foulants present in bitumen-derived gas oils is required. In this proposed work, catalyst fouling, and pressure drop issues due to foulants such as metal fines and conjugated olefins will be studied under industrial conditions in collaboration with Syncrude Canada Ltd. A packed bed hydrotreating reactor that simulates an industrial hydrotreater and actual industrial feeds will be used in studying the issues of foulants. The effects of foulants in the heavy and light gas oils on hydrodesulfurisation and hydrodenitrogenation are also examined. Besides, strategies to minimize foulants deposition on the catalyst bed and reactor body will be investigated by altering the surface acidity of a hydrotreating catalyst, the catalyst pellet morphology, and reactor operating conditions. Additionally, interactive effects of catalyst acidity and process conditions will be investigated along with mathematical modeling of foulants deposition. The proposed outcomes of this project will offer solutions to our industrial partner to mitigate localized zonal fouling, and thus to achieve the desired operating cycle between catalyst regenerations in their Mildred Lake upgrader that produces 350,000 bbl/day of sweet crude oil (SCO) from bitumen oil. In addition, this research will enable other Canadian oil companies to improve the profit margin of SCO production while publishing the project findings.