EFFECT OF PREHYDROGENATION ON HYDROCONVERSION OF MAYA RESIDUUM, PART II: HYDROGEN INCORPORATION

Maya 650° F residuum (Maya AR) was prehydrogenated over a standard hydroprocessing catalyst. The 650°F residuum of this product lpar;HMaya ARrpar; and Maya AR were then separately hydroprocessed further at selected conditions. The products were examined by elemental, ¹H, and ¹³C NMR analyses to determine the how hydrogen was incorporated during processing.

For all processing steps, hydrogen was incorporated in capping fragments formed during cracking reactions, as well as in hydrogenation reactions, heteroatom removal, and hydrocarbon gas formation, but the distribution of the hydrogen was dependent upon the type and severity of the process: For the direct hydroconversion of Maya AR, 25 to 30% of the total hydrogen was incorporated for heteroatom removal and hydrocarbon gas formation. The remaining hydrogen was incorporated in hydrogenation and cracking reactions.

For the two-step hydroconversion process, 30 to 40% of the total hydrogen was incorporated for heteroatom removal and hydrocarbon gas formation. The remaining was primarily incorporated in hydrogenation reactions. Some was incorporated into cracking reactions in the moderate severity case, but almost none was seen in the low severity case.

The hydrogen incorporation during each specific processing step is discussed, along with an evaluation of the prehydrogenation step a residuum conversion process option. These results will be also compared to previously reported hydrogen incorporation measurements on other feeds and processing methods.