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

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 33 bar, three temperatures (310 °C, 330 °C and 350 °C), and three values of WHSV (0.7 h−1, 1 h−1 and 1.4 h−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.

Graphical abstractFigure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slideHighlights► The desulphurization rates of the sulphur bearing molecules in gasoil decrease with the addition of the vegetable oil up to 5%. ► The increase of palm oil content from 5% to 10% did not result in any further effect on desulphurization reaction rates. ► The vegetable oil presence in the feed mixture does not affect the rate of the hydrogen consumption reactions of the gasoil molecules. ► The hydrogen consumption for the transformation of the palm oil triglyceride molecules into green diesel was estimated as 210 Nl/kgVO. ► The HDS activation energy decreases with vegetable oil content from 128 kJ/mol to 102 kJ/mol when the palm oil content increased from 0 to 10 wt%.