Sonochemical and impregnated Co-W/γ-Al2O3 catalysts : performances and kinetic studies on hydrotreatment of light gas oil

Abstract

γ-Al2O3 supported Co-W based catalysts with varying Co (1 - 3 wt %) and W (7 - 13 wt %) loadings were prepared using impregnation and sonochemical methods. All prepared catalysts were characterized with elemental analysis, BET analysis, X-ray diffraction (XRD), NH3 temperature programmed desorption (TPD), temperature programmed reduction (TPR) and thermogravimetry analysis (TGA). The performances of all the synthesized catalysts were tested at a pressure of 8.9 MPa, LHSV of 2 h-1 and temperatures of 340, 350 and 360 °C in a laboratory trickle bed microreactor for hydrodesulphurization (HDS) and hydrodenitrogenation (HDN) of light gas oil (LGO) derived from Athabasca bitumen. The performance tests with impregnated catalysts indicated a maximum in activity for HDS and HDN reactions (sulfur and nitrogen conversions at 93.0 and 57.1 % at 360 °C) for Co(3 wt %)-W(10 wt %)/γ-Al2O3 whereas the performance tests with sonochemically prepared catalysts showed a maximum in activity (sulfur and nitrogen conversions at 87.9 and 42.5 % at 360 °C) for Co(3 wt %)-W(11.5 wt %)/ γ-Al2O3. These two catalysts were selected for detail performance, optimization and kinetic studies. The effects of reaction temperature (340 - 380 °C), pressure (7.6 - 10.3 MPa), liquid hourly space velocity (1.5 - 2.0 h-1) and hydrogen gas/gas oil ratio (400 - 800 mL/mL) were examined on HDS and HDN of LGO with these catalysts. The reaction kinetics for HDS was best fitted with a Power Law model whereas same for HDN was found to be best represented by a Langmuir-Hinshelwood model with a reasonable accuracy (0.90