Hydrotreating of light gas oil using a NiMo catalyst supported on activated carbon produced from fluid petroleum coke

Nitric acid functionalized steam activated carbon (NAFSAC) was prepared from waste fluid petroleum coke (FPC) and used as a support material for the synthesis of a NiMo catalyst (2.5 wt-% Ni and 13 wt-% Mo). The catalyst was then used for the hydrotreatment of light gas oil. The support and catalysts were characterized by Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) gas adsorption method, X-ray diffraction, H₂-temperature programmed reduction, NH3-temperature programmed desorption, CO-chemisorption, mass spetrography, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Boehm titration, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The SEM results showed that the carbon material retained a needle like structure after functionalization with HNO₃. The Boehm titration, FTIR, and BET results confirmed that the HNO₃ functionalized material had moderate acidity, surface functional groups, and mesoporosity respectively. The produced NAFSAC had an inert nature, exhibited the sink effect and few metal support interactions, and contained functional groups. All of which make it a suitable support material for the preparation of a NiMo hydrotreating catalyst. Hydrotreating activity studies of the NiMo/NAFSAC catalyst were carried out under industrial operating conditions in a laboratory trickle bed reactor using coker light gas oil as the feedstock. A parallel study was performed on the hydrotreating activity of NiMo/γ-Al₂O₃ as a reference catalyst. The hydrodesulfurization and hydrodenitrogenation activities of the NiMo/NAFSAC catalyst were 62% and 30%, respectively.