NiO based catalysts obtained “in-situ” for heavy crude oil upgrading: effect of NiO precursor on the catalytic cracking products composition

Abstract

Heavy and super-heavy oils are characterized by a high content of resins and asphaltenes, which complicate the transportation and refining of oil and lead to an increase in the cost of refinery products. Currently, of particular interest are catalysts that are formed directly under the conditions of the process from precursors, which are various salts. In this work influence of NiO precursor on the heavy oil catalytic cracking products composition. The upgrading in all experiments was carried out at a temperature 450 °C for 80 min. The optimal catalyst content calculated to the NiO in experiments 2 and 3 was 0.5 wt. % of the feedstock weight. The ratio salt:ethanol in experiment 3 was 1:1 wt. The products of catalytic cracking were analyzed by SARA, GC, XRD and FT-IR spectrometry. The dissolution of Ni(NO3)2•6H2O in ethanol results in a decrease in the content of high molecular weight components and an increase in the yield of the fraction boiling up to 360 °C. A decrease of sulfur content in the course of heavy oil cracking is caused by both interactions of NiO formed over cracking with S-containing compounds of feedstock leading to formation of Ni9S8 and Ni0.96S and sulfur removal in form of gas.