Patent Application: US-201514954176-A

Abstract:
the present invention is an in - situ cleaning procedure for the recovery of catalytic activity of a based alumina hds catalyst , molybdenum , nickel coated coke and contaminants and it has an hds activity seriously diminished . the catalyst under study had between 13 and 18 wt % total carbon . reformate , half the total volume , industrial toluene = 35 volume % and iso - propylic alcohol , 15 volume %, in order to reactivate a deactivated catalyst , a solvent mixture with the following volumetric ratio is prepared . or it can also be used only reformate . the solvent mixture is passed using a lhsv of 2 hr − 1 for 72 hours at 50 ° c . or also using a recirculating three 24 - hour cycles at 50 ° c . option lasts 24 hours pure reformate lhsv = 2h − 1 to 50 ° c . the washed catalyst is fed back to the load reaction conditions maintained for 36 hours at 340 ° c ., to initiate hds activity balances . during this treatment oxides of molybdenum and nickel in the active phase are re - sulfided by increasing the hds activity . the in - situ cleaning procedure to reactivate deactivated hydrotreating catalysts used to partially remove the carbon and increase the active phase of molybdenum di - sulphide , and also retrieve specific area , and hydrogenation sites that promote higher hydrodesulfurization activity of gasoil after this treatment .

Description:
the present invention relates to a procedure for washing of contaminants poisons of a deactivated catalyst during hydrotreating of primary light gas oil in a refinery . the washing additive consists of hydrocarbons 3 - 12 carbon atoms of different chemical families , particularly in smaller proportion of the group of alcohols , a higher proportion of mono - aromatic group and a significant proportion of the hydrocarbons group c5 + called specifically naphtha reformate which it is the product of catalytic reforming of naphthas at the refinery . it is therefore an object of the present invention , to provide a method for washing the contaminants of an industrially deactivated catalyst from primary light gas oil hydrotreating , which through the runtime accumulate on the outer surface of the catalyst . according to the above , by the procedure of this invention the catalytically active sites contaminated with coke are unblocking active sites , in order to increase the hydrodesulfurization ( hds ) catalytic activity without damaging the metal sulphides phases of molybdenum and nickel present . it is also an objective of the present invention the partial recovery of the hds activity of a diesel hydrotreating catalyst deactivated by coke with a carbon content of 12 - 14 weight -%. the procedure used in this invention includes preparation of a mixture of hydrocarbons of different chemical families , 40 - 60 % of a mono - methylated aromatic hydrocarbon , in 12 - 17 % of an oxygenated hydrocarbon of r — oh formula where r may be a saturated alkylic containing the hydroxyl radical in the internal carbon ; and contains 20 - 30 % volume of linear and branched aliphatic hydrocarbons of 5 to 12 carbon atoms , including any fraction of cyclic paraffin . the procedure for preparation of the solvent mixture used in this invention consists of the following steps , measuring the volume used in the evaluation unit according to the volume of catalyst bed . this is important because the process of this invention recommends a liquid hour space velocity ( lhsv ) from 5 to 1 hour − 1 , more preferably between 2 . 5 and 2 . 0 hours − 1 which means a waste of solvent per hour minimum , double of volume of the catalyst bed . taking into account a calculation basis of 1 cubic meter ( m 3 ) of deactivated for the recovery process of the deactivated catalyst hds activity catalyst industrially . based on the above it is determined in the solvent mixture should control a constant flow of 2 cubic meters ( m 3 ) per hour . in order to obtain a mixture suitable for the recovery procedure of the hds activity of the deactivated catalyst industrially required that the hydrocarbon mixture is vigorously stirred to be homogeneous during the washing procedure . the specific mixture of solvents for contaminants washing type : aliphatic carbon , aromatic carbon , sulfur , iron showing to be active to remove less of aliphatic carbon present in the catalyst , a smaller amount of aromatic carbon , fewer sulfur of sulfides present and a slight amount of iron among other contaminants . specifically , when the deactivated catalyst , study matter of this invention which had been operating for five years in a primary light gas oil hydrodesulfurization unit at industrial level . with this washing additive is possible to solve aliphatic carbon compounds present in the deactivated catalyst , which are also responsible for hds catalyst activity decreased for blocking the active sites hydrotreating inhibiting the efficient entry reactants through the catalyst . achieved after this treatment increase activity hydrodesulfurization primary light gas oil in more than 30 % allowing in principle increase the catalyst life cycle measured as the amount of processed hydrotreating barrels per kilogram of catalyst . formulate a liquid mixture to wash contaminants for use in reactivation treating of a deactivated catalyst industrially . a stream of naphtha reformate from refinery , industrial grade solvents toluene and iso - propyl alcohol are acquired . the total volume of treatment to be performed based on the volume of the catalyst bed to be treated and duration of the wash cycle , the following equation is calculated : preparation of the additive mixture of solvents used in the process of the present invention requires its measurement with an instrument , the solvents used are liquid at room temperature and perfectly miscible between them , so that the mixtures employed in this invention are homogeneous and feasible to use in contaminants washing mainly carbon of the deactivated catalysts industrially . the procedure of this invention can use hydrocarbon solvents of different types : paraffinics , aromatics , naphthenes and oxygenated , although the use of nitrogen compounds is preferably avoided , to no affect the quality of diesel with nitrogenates residues in the catalyst bed , additionally it can be a strong poison for active sites of hydrotreating primary light gas oil catalysts . as a diagnosis of the degree of aging of an industrially deactivated catalyst in hydrotreating unit mexican primary light gas oil for five years , this sample was analyzed thoroughly , defining as a major pollutant : carbon deposited on the catalyst pores . the deactivated catalyst industrially during primary light gas oil hydrotreating was discharged and dried in an inert atmosphere in the same industrial unit , this material no longer containing adsorbed gas oil . it was characterized in terms of their main contaminants as shown in the following table . it is considered important to determine the type of carbon deposited on the deactivated hydrotreating catalyst , this finding is done by 13 c nuclear magnetic resonance ( nmr ) of the solid state where a relationship is obtained [ w / w ] to [ 4 / 6 ratio ] of aliphatic carbon against aromatic carbon for this sample . to evaluate the hds activity of the hydrotreating catalysts , one deactivated industrially catalyst and the others , washed with solvents to reactivation , in order to measure the degree of recovery of hidrodesulfurization sites at pilot plant level . in all cases were used 60 cm 3 of catalyst volume in the form of extrudates tetra lobular 1 / 16 ″ diameter and as refinery feedstock , primary light gas oil from ciudad madero , tamaulipas , mexico . in order to have an initial measurement ( baseline ) of the hds activity of the deactivated industrially catalyst , it was carried out the catalytic evaluation using a methodology to determine conversion levels by effect of catalytic bed temperature , in the first part , it was necessary an activation step with the feed of primary light gas oil for 4 hours at 360 ° c . of temperature in order to sulfurize the partially oxidized sites before starting 6 hours balances at 340 , 360 and 380 ° c . including the reaction parameters shown below : the results obtained of this evaluation are taken as basis for the calculation of recovery of hds activity of the washed catalyst to remove contaminants in the following examples . the washing mixture is performed at room temperature , first placing the necessary volume of reformate naphtha into a suitable container , calculating for this first solvent comprises 50 volume -%. immediately , was added the amount of mono - aromatic solvent , i . e . toluene with 35 volume -% ratio . while the iso - propyl alcohol is added in 15 volume -% respectively . as in example 1 a volume of 60 ml deactivated catalyst in tetra lobular extruded form 1 / 16 inch diameter , which is placed in a reactor of the evaluation unit to pilot plant level is used . in this example conditions used of in - situ washing of contaminants are shown in table 4 . the washing mixture in this particular case is exclusively the reformate industrial stream obtained from ciudad madero refinery , which consists of a hydrocarbons mixture with high percentage of toluene , naphthenes and fewer quantity of paraffins , all in the range from 5 to 12 carbon atoms . for this procedure it was possible to reduce the washing time based on the response of recovery hds activity of the deactivated industrial catalyst , since longer times , the effect was not positive . in this example the following in - situ contaminant washing conditions where the treatment time is reduced for better catalytic response , see table 5 . this procedure is done with the same solvent mixture used in example 2 , but with the difference in methodology that washing solvent includes recirculation in three cycles of 24 hours in order to save solvent and minimizing the hydrocarbons used during contaminants washing . the conditions used are shown in table 6 , where solvent consumption reduction does not affect the treatment time . this methodology was effective even though the spent solvent was not cleaned in the reactor outlet , before recirculating back to the catalyst bed . to evaluate the effectiveness of washing treatments of deactivated catalyst using three different procedures : washing procedures a , b and c ( examples 2 , 3 , and 4 respectively ) compared with the activity of deactivated catalyst ( example 1 ) using the same evaluation methodology for hds activity using primary light gas oil shown in table 3 above . it is noted that even the deactivated catalyst has catalytic activity and that this can be further increased after in - situ washing , according to the examples 2 , 3 and 4 . additionally , hydrodesulfurization ( hds ) activity were higher for examples 2 and 4 @ 340 and 360 ° c . using reformate - toluene - 2 - propanol ( one step and with recirculation at medium pressure respectively ). at 380 ° c . hds activities were similar for all the washed catalysts by the procedure of this patent around 99 . 7 %, indicating a limit of recovery in the active sites for these catalysts . quality hydrotreated primary light gas oil is measured in parts per million of sulfur , in the case of deactivated catalyst a quality value of 250 ppm was taken like a production base , example 2 achieves this quality at calculated temperature of 359 . 65 ° c . while the other options require 364 . 77 ° c . and 363 . 79 ° c . respectively . therefore , it can be considered that the solvent mixture : reformate - toluene - isopropyl alcohol is better to reactivate the hds catalytic function as the starting run occurs at temperature of 360 ° c . to 237 ppm s as can be seen in table 8 . while examples 3 and 4 to the same temperature condition obtained 308 and 293 ppm of sulfur respectively . when comparing the deactivated catalyst versus in - situ solvents washing catalysts , we can mention that the improvement is given by reduction of total carbon in the catalysts , this is about 22 - 28 %. the specific area is increased after solvent washing , as well as the pore volume . the effect is inverse for the average pore diameter decreasing values of 92 to 78 - 86 amstrong . about the carbon type , a decrease is observed only in the region of aliphatic carbon , while aromatic carbon was increased . the carbon nmr [ aliphatic / aromatic ] ratio for catalysts washed in - situ with solvents were lower than in the deactivated catalyst . in table 10 can be confirmed that the active species of the washed catalyst with are higher than deactivated catalyst , this is evidence that the process for reactivating deactivated catalysts was successful regarding the improvement of the active sites present . particularly for the species mos 2 increased 57 . 7 % to average values of 70 % in all washed cases . while sulfur species attributed to combined phase : ni — mo — s increased from 0 ( deactivated ) to 11 . 29 , 22 . 22 and 14 . 89 % ( examples 2 , 3 and 4 ) respectively . as a measure of the impact on the solvent used in the coke washing of deactivated catalyst in example 3 , the sulfur content of the contaminated reformate at the output of in - situ recovery treatment was analyzed . to reduce the sulfur content of the reformate obtained after washing , a study adsorption using alumina support of high porosity ( ap ) in one step at room temperature and as second alternative separation by soxhlet equipment at 130 ° c . was performed . the results of the sulfur present in these streams are presented in the following table . according to the above table , the recovered solvent is feasible to integrate into the gasoline pool if it is distilled into two fractions at a cutting temperature of 130 ° c ., or integrated as a diluent loading the hydrotreating process of catalytic naphtha and that its sulfur content is very low , 0 . 0288 wt -% sulfur versus 0 . 28 wt -% typical value of fluid catalytic cracking ( fcc ) naphtha . or otherwise you can send completely the contaminated reformate as a feed for hydrotreating process like primary naphtha , fcc or coker naphthas to recover this valuable stream of high octane number ( 90 - 95 ). 1 ) u . s . pat . no . 4 , 863 , 884 , kenneth g . tasker , john d . milligan , hri inc ., method for rejuvenating used catalysts , sep . 5 1989 . 2 ) u . s . pat . no . 5 , 230 , 791 , david e . sherwood , texaco development co ., process for the reactivation of spent alumina - 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