Modeling the deactivation by metal deposition of heavy oil hydrotreating catalyst

•Catalyst deactivation during hydrotreating of heavy oil was studied.•Pore plugging model was employed.•Kinetics and deactivation parameters were estimated.•Good agreement between simulated/experimental data was found at short and long TOS.

Modeling the deactivation of heavy oil hydrotreating catalyst was carried out by using a pore plugging model. Experimental data were obtained at constant temperature of 385 °C, pressure of 9.8 MPa, LHSV of 0.25 h and 5000 scf H2/bbl oil. Kinetics was derived from experimental data collected at short times-on-stream (TOS) whereas data affected by pore plugging by metal deposition was obtained between 200 and 2200 h TOS. The model employed was capable of predicting with confidence the profiles of diminution of metal removal (nickel and vanadium) at short and long values of time-on-stream.