EFFECTS OF HYDROTREATING COKER LIGHT GAS OIL ON FUEL QUALITY

Coker light gas oil (LGO) derived from Athabasca bitumen was hydrotreated in a fixed bed reactor using two commercial NiO-MoO₃/Al₂0₃ catalysts. The effect of temperature on product quality was investigated in a pilot plant between 330 and 390 °C at 12.4 MPa, space velocity of 0.5 Ir1 and 700 liter of hydrogen per liter of coker LGO (L/L). The product quality was monitored by ^I3C NMR spectroscopy, elemental analysis, density and distillation techniques.

The data showed that coker LGO can be hydrotreated using nickel-molybdenum catalysts at 350 °C, 0.5 h¹, 12.4 MPa and 700 L/L to meet the diesel product specifications, namely, 0.5 wt % sulfur, 20% aromatics and cetane index of 40. The cetane index improvement and aromatic saturation, which are affected by thermodynamic equilibrium at temperature higher than 370 °C, could reach 29 and 86% respectively. The cetane improvement was attributed to aromatic saturation and hydrocracking with hydrogen consumption ranging from 215-340 L/L. The Ketjenfine KF-840 catalyst was found slightly better performance than Procatalyse HR-348 catalyst.