Vegetable oil effect on gasoil HDS in their catalytic co-hydroprocessing

Abstract

The effect of the presence of triglycerides on the catalytic hydrodesulfurization (HDS) of gasoil and the hydrogen consumption reactions have been studied during catalytic hydroprocessing of gasoil–palm oil mixtures at conventional hydrotreatment conditions over a commercial CoMo/γ-Al2O3 catalyst. The experiments were performed at a pressure of 33bar, three temperatures (310°C, 330°C and 350°C), and three values of WHSV (0.7h−1, 1h−1 and 1.4h−1). Desulphurization rates decreased with palm oil content from 0 to 5% but they did not change with a further increase to 10%. Hydrogen consumption rates were not affected by the presence of the vegetable oil molecules. Simple power law formal kinetics has been applied to simulate the desulphurization and hydrogen consumption rates of the gasoil–palm oil mixtures.