Modeling of the FCC Gasoline Desulfurization Process by Liquid Extraction with Sulfolane

Abstract

Extractive desulfurization of fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) gasoline with sulfolane was studied in a batch apparatus. The influence of three inlet parameters (temperature, inlet sulfur content, and solvent ratio) on the process response, that is, desulfurization efficiency, was investigated with the use of a Box-Behnken experimental design by response surface methodology. A mathematical model that can be used for predicting sulfur content in raffinate after extractive batch processing with sulfolane was statistically developed and proven with analysis of variance. Statistical analysis showed that the largest influence on desulfurization efficiency was solvent ratio, the second most significant influence was inlet sulfur content, followed by temperature, and last the interaction between solvent ratio and inlet sulfur content. The obtained second-order polynomial model shows that maximum desulfurization efficiency of 65.34% can be achieved at temperature of 50°C and higher values of inlet sulfur content and solver ratio in the researched range of inlet parameter values.