In-situ prepared dispersed Co and Ni catalysts for heavy oil upgrading: effect of Ni, Co, and acetone on product composition

Abstract

Over the past decade, much attention has been paid to oil refining using various in-situ catalysts to increase the efficiency of the process. However, the influence of the solvent in the solvent-precursor (metal salt) system on the transformation of oil components has not been studied enough. In this study, acetone was used as an environmentally friendly and cheap solvent for the preparation of catalyst precursors based on Ni and Co. The presence of acetone in the system helps to reduce the amount of introduced metal in 5 times precursors due to the uniform distribution of active components. It has been established that a mixture of Ni in acetone has the most effective catalytic activity for accelerating the process of heavy oil refining. In this experiment, the yield of light fractions increases by 2 times compared to the original oil and reaches 63 wt. %. Using by XRD and SEM were found/determine formation catalytic active Ni9S8, Ni0.96S and Co9S8 with the sulfur-containing components of heavy oil, the content of which decreases by 1.5 wt. %.