Simulation and analysis of different quenching alternatives for an industrial vacuum gasoil hydrotreater

A heterogeneous one-dimensional reactor model was developed to simulate and analyze an industrial VGO hydrotreater with different quenching schemes considering the hydrodesulfurization, hydrodearomatization and hydrodenitrogenation reactions. The model was applied to predict the behavior of the reaction system with and without the injection of different quench fluids: hydrogen, VGO, diesel and water. Reactor temperature profiles, changes in partial pressure and molar concentration are determined for each alternative and compared with those obtained for the system without quenching. It was recognized the great impact of the resulting reactor temperature profiles on impurity removal by affecting reaction rate constants and gas–liquid equilibrium.