Heavy Oil Residue Upgrading With Iron Based Catalysts Under High Hydrogen Pressure

Abstract

In this study, effective and easily accessible cheap catalysts that assist converting heavy oil residue to lighter products with high yield are investigated. Hydrocracking experiments were carried out in a 10 ml stainless steel bomb-type reactor with up and down stirrer at 200 times of reciprocation per minute. The catalyst mixture provided the minimum coke yield was investigated. FeSO4.H2O, the binary mixtures of FeSO4.H2O with metal oxides (Fe2O3, Al2O3, CaO, SiO2) and the mixtures Fe2O3, Al2O3 and SiO2 with elementary sulphur were used as catalyst. Experiments were conducted at 425 0C for 90 minutes with the initial pressure 100 bar H2. The amount of coke, liquid products and C5- gas products were calculated for each experiment. Gel Permeation Chromatography (GPC), Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (1H NMR) and elemental analysis were used for Iranian heavy oil residue. Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC) was used to analyze the catalyst. According to the results, minimum coke yield is achieved by FeSO4.H2O+SiO2 catalyst. Although minimum coke yield achieved with FeSO4.H2O+SiO2, middle distillate containing toluene soluble fraction (TSF) was maximized with Fe2O3+Al2O3+Sulphur catalyst mixture. In addition, the product selectivity in the reactions with the least coke formation showed selectivity in the direction of the formation of gas and light products, not in the direction of liquid product formation.